it has begun!

i am writing a book!

the topic of the book is hospitality, even if you think that is not "you".

the title...this took me awhile, and I kept asking God to give me a clever and catchy one...well, I was praying for someone one day. someone in my life with a "woe is me" mentality, and as I prayed for him, I asked God to please turn his woes into...

THEN IT CAME TO ME!

WHOAS!

and I knew - that is it!

Turn Your Woes into WHOAS !

You Can be a Queen of Hospitality

So, forthcoming is a SURVEY that I am hoping you and all of your friends will fill out...I need to do some research on where women are today...

how strong is their desire to invite others into their homes with a welcoming smile?

How far from reality does that seem to most people?

Even in my social-life laden area of Salt Lake City, a lot of women seem to feel handicapped in the area of making their homes a haven that draws others.

Last Tuesday, I had a magazine salesman come to my door. He was a boisterous young man from Loo-zanna, new oh-lins, in fact. and he "wasn't gonna lah tuh me"...he was there to better himself, and get off the streets, away from drugs and gangs, and was now in a program promoting a better way of life for these young kids that often find themselves caught up on the opposite side of the law as young as age 9. My heart went out to him. I did NOT want any magazines. everything I need to know I can ask a friend or mom, or find on the web. BUT, we talked for a bit, and I said I would think about it if he would agree to come back for dinner. The burden on my mind that day was "does he know Jesus?" What if he didn't? What if this was his last day on earth? I wanted to be able to say I did what I could! so...off he went with the knowledge that we were eating at 6:30.

I did not expect him to come back. My husband was less than thrilled...wondering if I valued my life or that of my family at ALL..inviting a complete stranger inside! well, I DID text my hubby, and said "Please be home by 6:30. we may have company for dinner." He did not picture this.

And so, the young Timothy O'Neal sat, enrapturing our older boys, for 2 hours at the dining room table. He spoke of experiences on the "street"...drive-by shootings, an uninvolved father, exposure to drugs before reaching his teens...all with no bitterness, though. Just a sparkle in his eye and the determination to "bettuh hisself". He said his brother is a Baptist minister, and best friends with Kirk Franklin. the brother had given Timothy the warning..."do what you do for God. if it's not for God, it makes no difference to anybody". I asked him if he was raised to love Jesus..."Oh, yes ma'am. My Grammaw said if we don't goes tuh church, then we ain'ts got no respec'. And you GOTS tuh have respec' fur God. So we had tuh have respec'!" I am not sure if that meant he loved Jesus with his whole heart or not, but I stressed how important that was, and he nodded in confirmation that he'd been TOLD! We also heard he was first cousins to Shaquille O'Neal. Others have since doubted the validity of this statement, but that is okay, we enjoyed our evening. And, it made an impression on our sons. Before he left, we did order some magazines, and we prayed with him, and he seemed very touched by that. So i thought to myself, "job well done".

All that to say...it was a simple pasta-salad-bread meal, nothing out of the ordinary for us. I did not light candles, I did not take out china, I did not even put a slice of lemon in the water. I invited him into to my post-dinner-prep messy kitchen, with a welcome smile, and he in turn gave me a fresh perspective on how people outside of "my circle" live. My desire is for all of us to be at that place, where sharing our lives is a blessing to us, just for sharing.

***your comments are welcome on this subject!!!! To comment, you do not need a password...you just need to list your status as "anonymous", then it will go through with no problem. if you include your name in the comment field, that would be awesome, but please don't feel obligated. thank you!!!