2016. All Rights Reserved. Emily Jaminet.
FEED THE HUNGRY: Let’s Do Lunch, the Gift of Hospitality
The other day the words came flying out of my mouth, “I should have you over for lunch.” How many times do we SAY things like that as women, but don’t follow through! This post is all about pricking your conscience, so you do exactly that, have a little fun and “make it a lunch date.”
Who needs this mid-day meal more than a mom with young children? Most of the time these moms are deep in the trenches of parenting and never get a good lunch never the less great conversations! Let’s face it in a few short years many of us transition from lunch with co-workers daily, to PPJ scraps from our children’s plate! We miss the companionship, the convenience and even the conversations of our lunch in the work world! One one friend said, “I hear voices in my head because it is just my young child and me, is it God or am I going crazy.” As women we go from never having peace and quiet and always busy, doing what we want to a life of little people.
Points to Consider-
To Clean or Not to Clean? It is a real toss up, the fact is if a mama comes over with her children she will leave your house worse off but your heart will be happy! So wait to clean up after they leave. Now don’t be afraid to ask the other moms to help you “recover” from the event at the end of the gathering. If you do, you will have them back again real soon!
Set Limits on How Long You can “Hang”– Be careful not to allow your lunch date to set you off balance for the rest of the day and maybe prevent littles from napping. Set a good realistic time of 2 hours and then call it quits. The best advice given to me has been “always wrap things up 10 minutes too early than 10 minutes too late” to prevent melt-downs.
How Many Moms Should You Have Over? This event might be a nice opportunity to have a new mom you would like to get to know! You can even ask the other moms to bring over a side dish to lighten your load on what you need to do! I think three families is a significant number and typically everyone can find something to connect on.
Consider some Driveway Play Time– If you have a driveway use it! Allow the littles to chalk, blow bubbles and ride toys! I have even asked other parents to bring their children’s ride toys so that everyone had something fun to ride!
Find Time to Pray and Keep the Conversation Positive– Make sure to incorporate prayer and keep your conversations in a positive tone! The more you focus on the positive you will want to do this type of event again!
The point of this gathering is to provide another mom with warm hospitality and a little break from your daily routine! Consider doing these type of events monthly a way to reach out to others. And see the value in providing others with warm hospitality.
