The Welcoming Hearth - Skoglund

Contemplating Hospitality - this book has made that easier.
This is an older book (1993) I found at a used bookstore for 3$. It was worth it - even if just to give me ideas and help me think about what I need to be doing.
She peppered (no pun intended) the book with recipes and cooking/hostessing tips. She also shared much of her heritage and growing up tales with her readers as well. It was a very personable book - to fit in with the topic of hospitality.
"In contrast, true hospitality has the feeling of the hearth. It stands in opposition to the coldness and depersonalization of the world outside. It provides a temporary respite that remains in the memory and refurbishes long after it is past." (4) When I read these sentences, I thought back to the Robshaw home. I remember sitting in a chair in front of her fire place sipping green tea. Also, many times sitting at her counter in the kitchen or her dining room table. What treats they were for me. First time that I remember was months after meeting them, they invited me back to spend VBS week with them at their house - and I was asked to eat Jill's b-day with them as a family. This is true hospitality.
"The sense of hospitality has to start from within. The act of hospitality is the outgrowth of an attitude." (9) If you want to use this gift more - ask the Spirit to cultivate it within you - as it is a gift of the Spirit.
"We are to offer hospitality under the direction of him who has become the Lord of our lives in this area of service as well as every other." (31) We can not effectively share hospitality with others without having Jesus be Lord of our lives. It is not about impressing others, it is not about showing off skills (this is tough for me - an area of pride). But, live under the Spirit who has made us free from the bondage of sin.