Open House

What does it mean to open your home to others? I think, it means that you share your life with them. It means that you hold nothing back. They get to know you for your good traits and for your not so good traits. Opening your home up to others can cause you to have more work. It can help you become inventive on the food that you prepare, so that your grocery bill does not get too outrageous. It will cause you to become a better person and it will give you a life full of families, that you would have never known if you hadn't offered your home to others.

Yesterday, we had our first small group study "Better together" with our church. We had a house full of people. We have tried to arrange our home, for having people in our home. We didn't have to worry about the stuff in our home being broken by all of the children, because all of our things are rustic and look better a little worn anyway. Our lamps are metal so they won't break. We just don't worry to much about our things getting hurt. One of the moms was expressing her concern about her young son spilling food on the floor and I just told her not to worry about it. I was not concerned about the floor getting dirty because I new it was going to be, so I didn't clean it before they got here. I had planned on cleaning after they left. My house was picked up when they arrived, but I saved the cleaning for later. I have learned that it is better to wait on the cleaning till after my guests have gone, otherwise it is too much work for me. The rewards are going to be great as we learn from one another and share our lives together. The growing together as we talk and eat is going to far out weigh the work in cleaning.

We have a young college student in our group and he discovered that our house is perfect for watching the game or if he would like to bring a date over. I love the younger people to feel they have a place to go, while they are away from home. We have opened our home for several college people and now I think we have found our new one. He is more than welcome to come in to our house when ever he desires. I will feed him and my husband and I will share our lives with him. We love this part. We do not think that we have all of the answers to life, but we can offer our lives to helping others see what happens if you do or do not do something. I have done everything this world can offer. I can share what has happened to me. My husband chose a completely different path than I did and he can offer what happened to him. Together we can offer both sides of the coin, so to speak.

While we were having our study the children that live across the street kept coming over needing something. Someone asked us if they were over a lot and we answered that they were. They are about the same age as my children and they come over to play. While my husband is at work the kids come in and out of the house all day. I try and offer our home to them and give them an atmosphere that I think they can feel comfortable in. If I do nothing else while I am living in this neighborhood, I can offer my home to children and share my Father with them. This could be the only glimpse of Christ that many children are able to get. When they get older, I want them to remember, "this nice lady who took us in and taught us who Jesus was." Then, when my husband gets home, they go home. It works well for us, my husband has a home that is quiet after a long day of work, the children have been playing hard, and Jesus is being shared.

We do not have any blinds on the living room windows for a reason. We want our house to be open for all. We want our home to be where others feel they are welcome. This was a thought out plan on our part. We spent some time with the idea of placing blinds on our windows and we decided that it was better to live in a glass house. We have nothing to hide. We will share our faults and our accomplishments. It obviously takes more work to open your home to others, but the rewards are there to help me with the work. We are able to look at others who have been in our home and we can see where we helped them, at just the right time for them. God has given us people over the years that have come and shared their lives with us at just the right time for us and for them. No one has ever left with a negative feeling. Now there have been the lessons of "I don't want to do that," but it is a lesson that may have not been learned had we not opened and shared our lives.