26 DEVOTIONS BASED ON THE ALPHABET:
THE LETTER U
Monte Holland
Several persons have expressed an interest in having my husband, the Rev. Monte W. Holland, post an online series of devotions. Through their encouragement, Monte will post a weekly devotion on CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS. To read the introduction click on 26 Devotions Based on the Alphabet: Introduction. Click on 26 Devotions Based on the Alphabet: The Letter T to read the previous post on the letter T.
Return to this site each Saturday to read his devotions. Carolyn C. Holland
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ALPHABET OF THE BIBLE – THE LETTER U
Use hospitality to one another without grudging. (1 Peter 4:9)
Why would anybody want to come into our house to stay? Our outside yard is never fully manicured. Our house is cluttered and too full of things. We often are busy with other activities that keep us from being the “perfect hosts.”
And yet I married a hospitable woman. She’s always been ready to open her door to those with special needs.
As I look back there were many that came and stayed for a while. There was the woman who was so lonely and distraught that she considered suicide. She stayed for a few weeks.
There was the man who was reluctant to enter a church because “It might fall down.” He came for a little time to “dry out.” He stayed a couple of weeks.
There was the homeless woman who stopped by from time to time to get a meal, to clean up and get a good night’s sleep. The odor she left behind reminded us of how difficult it is to be homeless.
There was the woman who stole from our church and stayed in the parsonage with us (along with her young daughter), with the church’s blessing, to try to help her and to provide a good environment for the child.
The common denominator here was persons with special needs and our God-given place where they could stay a while. How did these visits all work out? In reality, only God knows. And maybe that is the beauty of it.
God asks us to be hospitable. I have used the example of opening one’s home to overnight and sometimes long-term guests. God seems to have expected that of us, and expects it of many others. Yet many other persons are expected to befriend those with special needs in other ways—maybe sharing a meal out, getting together to talk, a trip to the mall, corresponding by e-mail, being friendly to strangers in church, thanking someone who meets your needs in a place of business, or giving a cheery greeting to friend and foe alike on the streets of life.
Hospitality in any of its many forms is a gift, and it gives so much to the giver.
To read 26 DEVOTIONS BASED ON THE ALPHABET: THE LETTER V, click on: 26 Devotions Based on the Alphabet: The Letter V.
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ADDITIONAL READING:
26 Devotions Based on the Alphabet: Introduction
THUNDER MOUNTAIN LENAPE NATION POWWOW
PENNSYLVANIA WEDDING, (LAMOINE) MAINE ROOTS
PROCOPE CAFÉ, PARIS: Part 1—Finding photographs: An International Adventure
Comment on this post made on the Ligonier Living site:
That’s beautiful, Monty.
My mother was like that though it was relatives in distress that stayed with us. We had cousins come to live for a few weeks or in one case for a couple of years. As kids we never understood the why of it and didn’t ask. We were happy to have them. My father, like you, followed my mother’s lead and took them in. My grandmother lived with us as did an uncle. Our house was always full of people and love and MUSIC.
Recently, in a chat with a cousin, she reminded me of the time a hobo walked out of the woods and knocked on our door, hungry.[ We didn't live far from the tracks.] My mother invited him in and while he ate, washed his clothes. I remembered the man walking out of the woods, I can picture him now, but I had forgotten the rest.
Diane Cipa
Comment by carolyncholland — January 29, 2011 @ 9:39 pm |