Meet my Guest:
Donnetta from My Quiet Corner
I’m so happy to introduce to you my friend Donnetta, from My Quiet Corner. Donnetta is a real encourager, and you’ll want to check in on her blog daily for a good dose of inspiration! When we first met, we had an instant connection of sharing family and hospitality, not to mention that together we’ve worked 42 years in dialysis. Yes, 15 for Donnetta, 27 for me, both in dialysis units on the West Coast. Isn’t it a small world?
I hope you’ll enjoy and soak up her words of love and inspiration.
This was the beginning of a conversation between my 13 year old son and I as he climbed into the car one day after school:
Son: Mom, in a few weeks Blaine is going to need a place to stay.
Me: Tell him to have his mom call me.
Son: Yeah, I already told him, “No problem, have your mom call my mom.”
My heart settled contentedly. The truth I had been learning in my own heart was apparently, in some small way, being transferred to the heart of my teenage son.
Hospitality is more than an event, it is a lifestyle.
Rom. 12:13b (Amp) ” Pursue the practice of hospitality.”
As I think about this, I realize it is not a specific gift given to some, but rather a call for all to participate. In at least four different versions the word practice is used in this verse as it refers to hospitality. The message version says to be inventive.
I would venture to say that it confirms my hospitality will not be perfect every time.
Nor should it settle into monotony and boredom. I am to practice and invent my own individual hospitality as I extend myself to others.
I find that my thinking and actions in situations are changing. As an unexpected visit from a friend finds them standing on my front porch dropping something off, instead of stepping outside to talk to them, I find the words, “Would you like to come in?” rolling from my lips. I stand with my door invitingly open, almost in disbelief myself that I have invited them into the real me.
Hospitality is as much about the unplanned events as it is the planned ones.
I am discovering that hospitality is not so much about my open door as it is my open heart.
A simple offer of a drink, an invitation to participate in a unplanned moment of my time, a last minute offer to bring the family by for dinner, an unexpected batch of brownies as a small token of appreciation… all of these are ways to extend hospitality and friendship.
And so, I continue to practice and invent my unique and individualized style of hospitality.
Does hospitality come easy to you?
Hi, I'm Sandy. Five years ago I stocked up on beautiful glasses from the Dollar Store. As I started writing about dinner parties, I realized that this “icon” portrays a great message. It says that dinner parties are attainable, they are affordable, and that they can be beautiful even when on a budget. 
