Make Yourself At Home

hospitality - Make Yourself at Home

Practice hospitality. Romans 12:13, NIV

A church in Ohio once arranged for me (David) to stay in the home of a couple who were members. I don’t like to do that because I feel I’m disrupting the normal flow of my hosts’ lives. But the arrangements were made, so I agreed to stay with them.

This couple could not have been more gracious. Whatever they could do to make me feel at home and comfortable, they did. They left nothing out. They showed me true hospitality in action.

My time with this couple reminds me of the hospitality I am to show Teresa on a daily basis. The message I want to send my spouse is, “Make yourself at home here in my life. You are welcome here. Whatever I have is yours.” I want to let my spouse know that she is valued and joyfully invited into my thoughts and feelings, hopes and dreams.

Teresa and I first began to enjoy the benefits of true marital hospitality when we started scheduling our weekly “marriage staff meetings.” These two-hour times of weekly talking and sharing helped us voice our intent to connect on a deeper level as husband and wife and as parents.

First, we saw the benefits of comparing calendars and scheduling periodic “dates,” getaways, and social times. Later, as we grew more comfortable actually being together for an extended time, our sharing became more personal and vulnerable as we “welcomed” one another into challenges and disappointments, wishes and dreams. Our friendship deepened as our hospitality increased.

Teresa and I have been blessed as we have learned to show one another hospitality, and we encourage any couple to try the same in their marriage.

How can you begin today to communicate with your spouse that he or she is welcome in any and all parts of your life?