Wow! God is teaching me a lot these days!

I wanted to share something I came across in my reading for small group for our youth group--good stuff! God is already been working in my heart about this but it was really great to see it written out like this. My goal for the upcoming year is to be "given to hospitality." (I know, I'm already working on goals for 2011. This is a first for me. I never even write goals for New Years. Ever. However, this year I'm determined to be more purposeful in my homemaking...o.k. so maybe I can come up with a blog name to say that.) Anyways, hospitality is something I totally stink at. Ugh!!! It is not easy for me and it is not easy in a small house where we are already crowded around our table for dinner. However, I really, really, really need to make an effort towards hospitality in this coming year. Some of you are really good at this. It's your natural gift. It is not mine. So, feel free to pray that the Lord would help me to overcome my excuses and use our home as a tool to encourage others.  Anyways, this is what I read today while preparing for small group..."In Luke 14:12-13 Jesus suggests that when we give a dinner we shouldn't invite just our friends and relatives. You know how that goes. This time it's our turn, next time it's theirs. In the end, everyone breaks even. It hasn't cost anyone anything. Rather, He says, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind who cannot repay you--until the day of resurrection when they will be there to salute your faithfulness to them." "In other words, be hospitable. Deliberately break out of your daily routine of people and places for the gospel's sake."  I'm going to try to do this.