Five Minute Friday Linkup: Hospitality 8/2019

Hospitality: I enjoy joining up weekly with writers at Five Minute Friday and free writing for five minutes on a one word prompt.

Sit down with a mug of your beverage of choice and think about what the word hospitality means to you. Take a few minutes and go over to Five Minute Friday and read some of the other posts.

This weeks prompt is Hospitality. Though when I first saw it in my email I thought it was ‘hospital’ and thought. “Boy, I spent plenty of time there in the last year or so. I have plenty to write about”.

Then I opened the email and thought hospitality would be a much happier type of post to write. Hospitality sounds much more along the lines of serenity and harmony than the word hospital.

Before this linkup I thought of hospitality as hosting a gathering, of being a hostess.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hospitality Which when looking up the definition is the primary definition. Mostly it tells us to be kind and caring to friends AND STRANGERS. This was also a lesson to us in the bible.

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” Bible: Hebrews

Renner.org though however gave me a bit more definition. “The real idea of the word philoxenia (“hospitable”) is to be friendly or helpful to those who are strangers to you and to those who are in need. This word depicts that moment when you go outside your normal circle of friends and relationships to do something extra special for someone whom you do not know.”

I may not be up for hosting a gathering at my home but we do help out by fostering dogs for an animal rescue.  We are getting licensed to foster children in our home.  Other than that I would like to be more hospitable outside the home. I try to smile at as many people as I can as you never know who might need that smile. Does that count as being hospitable? Volunteering in your community is another way to help.  The main focus is being hospitable in your home but there are so many ways we could provide hospitality to people outside of our home.

Honestly in this day and age what I see on social media is that we need a lot more hospitality and caring and a lot less arguing, judgement and hatred. My 5 minute time is up here.

Afterthoughts

I  read so many thought provoking posts by others submitted to the linkup. Take for example the one by Sherry Meyer.  It leaves me thinking about how I can have more hospitality in my life without ending up limp as a dishrag after hosting a gathering.

6 Practical Ways to be Hospitable This Week!

https://everthinehome.com/how-to-be-hospitable-when-hospitality-isnt-your-thing/

https://www.thebettermom.com/blog/2012/07/18/10-ways-to-be-more-hospitable

5 Ways to Be Hospitable When You’re Busy

Hospitality

In my May Move More  post I mentioned the Ultimate Bundles Homemaking Bundle. It came up when I searched my blog for the word hospitality.  In particular, it includes a ton of resources for decluttering and getting your home in order, keeping on top of cleaning more easily, frugal ideas for bringing more beauty to your home, and all sorts of simple strategies for being guest-ready and taking the anxiety out of hospitality. Truthfully, it’s the resource I wish I would have had years ago. Unfortionately that bundle has ended for now.

They do have some great resources on productivity and a great bundle called Healthy Meal Planning that you might find helpful in your search for meals or time to provide hospitality. The productivity bundle is available until February 15, 2020.  The Healthy Meal Planning bundle is available until  December 31, 2019 .

Stay Tuned:

I have a freebie surprise coming Friday the 23rd ……