This is day 29 in a 31 day series on hospitality. Start from the beginning here.
Well, it’s been a good run. I’m glad I took this journey with you. And the timing of my trip to Sanibel Island tomorrow couldn’t be better. I’ll be reading Plato on the beach. My life is nothing, if not a study in contrasts. I’m hunting down margin and nailing him to sandy ground.
This song by Mumford and Sons is my series in a nutshell. Listen to it more than once. Feel his passion. Let the lyrics dip deep.
{The truth is gnawing at him too.}
Let us sit for a while here. Let us confess that for all our sweat, our ‘blood runs weak.”
And then we plead together, “Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn.”
Hospitality is our soul offering to others.
Hospitality is that margin of ourselves that we set aside so that love can happen.
Hospitality is the best of ourselves, broken and spilled out and lavished on our neighbor.
We live to serve.
Keep the earth below my feet,
For all my sweat, my blood runs weak
Let me learn from where I have been
Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn.
******************
I have 4-5 good posts left but I’ve run out of days. I have 1-2 posts on table setting, the post on the well-appointed hostess, several recipes that we didn’t get to and a post on difficult guests. I’ve been discussing this with my people and we’ve decided to turn this series into a printable pdf/ebooklet.!!!! The work has already begun. The new ‘days’ will be added and the content will be maximized for printing. We hope to finish before Christmas. I’m so excited about this!!!! But it will be a lot of work so bear with me. I’ve added a few more pins to the Hospitality Board at Pinterest so feel free to peruse it. Also, don’t forget to add links to your recipes to the comments on this post-–some of those will be used in the booklet!
Also, the 12 Days of Christmas is supposed to start tomorrow but I have a prior posting commitment that totally slipped my mind (please forgive me) and the first tutorial (WHICH IS AWESOME) will be posted early the next day. Get your glue guns and your sewing machines ready!
Also, our online book club begins Plato’s Republic tomorrow and the post for Antigone, along with an introduction to Plato will be added later today! To join, just buy the book, start reading and check the forum and my blog occasionally for updates.
Oh my gosh I am SO excited you are going to turn your wonderful series into an ebooklet!!!!! Yeah! Thank you. Thank you 🙂
How exciting!! Oh and this song, my favorite on the album.
That’s great news! This was the best 31 days series ever. I can’t tell you how much it truly blessed and encouraged me!
Have fun on the beach Miss Edie!! You definitely deserve the break. I have completely enjoyed this series and will anxiously await this wonderful ebook.
Looking forward to the 12 Days of Christmas!!!
Loved the Antigone and getting ready to read Plato.
Mumford & Sons is awesome. This song is a favorite from this album.
Ruth
Have fun on the beach Miss Edie!! You definitely deserve the break. I have completely enjoyed this series and will anxiously await this wonderful ebook.
Looking forward to the 12 Days of Christmas!!!
Loved the Antigone and getting ready to read Plato. Enjoyed the Antigone and read all Three Theban Plays.
Mumford & Sons is awesome. This song is a favorite from this album.
Ruth
Loved Sanibel Island !! Doc Ford’s mojitoes yummy !!! The homes in Marco Island swoon ! The sunset there as well !! Loved all your posts on HOSPITALITY!! Thank you.
I love the idea of an ebook! I’ll look forward to the remainder of the series. Thanks for the time and thought you’ve put into writing on hospitality. I feel as though it’s a lost art.
What a fabulous idea!! 🙂 Looking forward to the ebooklet. 🙂 Have a wonderful relaxing trip!! 🙂
Yeah! I’m so excited that this will be in book form. I was already trying to think how I could print it out on my own. I will use this now & in the future!
love Sanibel Island! what a beautiful place! I am still reading Antigone. I wondering if you suggest stopping frequently to read the footnotes or to read it through? I loved the 31 Days of Hospitality Series~it really has opened my eyes and my heart on becoming a better person! can’t wait to try all of your yummy recipes~Paige is always commenting on them! looking forward to the ebook and the 12 Days of Christmas. I am so grateful for everything you do and share with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I agree–the truth is gnawing at him, too.
(Did you know Marcus Mumford’s parents were the founding pastors of the Vineyard Church in the U.K.?)
I have loved your series and look forward to your ebooklet.
Enjoy Sanibel!! Here’s to finding some beautiful shells (it’s a dream of mine to go shelling there) and some much deserved margin. 🙂
Loved the series so much, it made my top 31 dayers post: http://littlegosh.blogspot.com.br/2012/10/31-days-on-listening-to-others.html
Thanks!
Edie, these last 31 days have been priceless to me. Your post has been the first thing I read every morning. The e-book will be fantastic!
I sooooo wish that I had an opportunity to meet you face to face. I know that we would talk for hours and it would soothe my soul.
Hi Edie. So excited for it all! Have a great time!!! xo
Edie, thank you so much for this series. I need to catch up and finish it, but what I’ve read has blessed me. It’s made me see hospitality in my life in a whole new way. I was in the car late afternoon Sunday and happened to catch Old Crow Medicine Show do a rendition of the John Denver classic, Hey it’s Good to be Back Home Again and I was overwhelmed with nostalgia and longing. I realized I was longing for the home I wanted to provide my children. I’ve wanted a small farm for about the last 8 years or so, but especially since we started homeschooling three years ago. Somehow I’ve decided in my mind that if we had a farm, that would be a real education and a real home and a real life for my children, as if the one we are leading now is an imposter. I also realized that since this is not my dream home, I treat this one as if it’s not worthy of being properly taken care of, as if it doesn’t matter to my husband and children that things around here are always a mess. I was convicted to say the least. I may never get to a farm, and my children may never know any house but this one, so what am I waiting for? I need to show my own family hospitality and then give that to others as well. Thank you for making me consider hospitality for others, so i could realize I’m lacking it for my own family.