Be Hospitable–No Grumbling
Be hospitable without complaint–without grumbling? That’s what the Apostle Peter told the early Christians. But sometimes it seems hard. At least it did for me when I received a phone call from a stranger that late afternoon.
This story occurred long ago and is very out of touch with today’s way of life. But maybe it will remind you of a time when you too needed an attitude adjustment–a heart change–like I did.
Usually, I was open to guests for a meal or overnight stays but not this evening. My husband and three children would soon be ready for supper, and I had an article to finish to meet my editor’s deadline. Then the stranger called.
“Hi, this is Sue. We are vacationing in Florida and want to see you and Lee. Can you meet us at McDonalds and let us follow to your house?”
“How will I know you?’ I asked.
“There are four of us in a yellow Cadillac with Texas license plates,” she replied.
Thirty minutes later as we sat in our living room sipping iced tea, I studied Sue’s face. She must be my husband’s cousin, I decided. Blond, blue eyed like his other relatives. As she talked, she seemed to know so much about us–where my husband worked, what grade our children were in, and that I was a newspaper writer.
When my husband walked in from work some moments later and saw the four guests, he arched his eyebrows at me. He didn’t know them either? But they talked nonstop about people in his Texas hometown.
When the smell of chili simmering on the stove wafted into the room, Sue hinted that it must really taste good. I invited them to stay for supper. I ran to the kitchen and dumped three more cans of beans into the chili pot and made a huge, tossed salad. When my mother and children joined us, we had ten around our dining table that night.
After our meal, they moved back into the living room and began chatting once again. I realized from their talk they might be staying a lot longer. By now I was getting irritated. Sue finally asked my husband to help them find some fruit to take home. He took them to my mother’s backyard to pick oranges and grapefruit. In the meantime, I cleaned up and pondered what I’d do if they really wanted to stay longer.
After a while my husband walked into the house alone. “They decided to drive a few more hours down the road and then stop at a motel,” he explained.
“Who were those people? Rather, who was that Sue who knew all about us?” I asked.
“That was my mother’s hairdresser,” he said, laughing. “Don’t you women tell your hairdresser everything? I guess Mom talked about us so much every week, Sue became very familiar with our family. The others were just her friends.”
“Her hairdresser?” I said, baffled and unsure how to digest this bit of information.
After I crawled into bed that night, I began to ponder the incident. Now that I knew who Sue was, I begin to think through the evening with greater clarity. And with great remorse for my rotten attitude.
For years my elderly mother-in-law had not been able to comb her hair properly with her crippled, gnarled, arthritic hands. In a sense Sue had been hospitable to her in a way that I couldn’t since we lived over 800 miles away. Besides that, Sue had to listen to stories about us for hours—poor woman.
It was if the Lord spoke to me: “Are three hours of your time and four bowls of chili given to strangers such a big sacrifice? Didn’t I promise that if you gave even a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name, you’d be rewarded?” Yes, I agreed. I asked God to forgive me for my wrong attitude toward this disruption. Then I thanked Him for forgiving me. 1
The next morning, I was at the typewriter before daybreak, finishing my newspaper article– with a happier attitude and a new day of possibilities facing me. I am so glad He forgives us. And I am glad that I was able to be hospitable on later occasions even when it seemed untimely and inconvenient.
Can you identify with a time you had a turn-around too? Maybe your “happening event” was a lesser wrongdoing yet you allowed God to touch your heart in a new way?
Prayer: Lord, thank You for forgiving us and giving us opportunities to change—in attitude and actions. Thank You for the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us. Thank You for Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins. In His name I pray. Amen.
Scripture: Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (I Peter 4:2-10 NKJV)
1. Excerpted in part from The Warm and Welcome Home by Quin Sherrer, (Ventura, CA., Regal publishers, 2004,) 81-82.
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