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Thankfulness can be a hard things to cultivate in a society that says “what’s mine is mine.” Here is 3 ways God used hospitality to teach me to be thankful.

roses and a teapot with text overlay 3 ways hospitality taught me to be thankful

How Growing in Hospitality Taught Me to be Thankful

It was our first Sunday in a new church. We had invited my parents to our apartment for lunch after the service so I had cooked for 4 people. I tend to overcook so there was probably enough for 8. But my husband invited 18 people who all came!

As I put the finishing touches on the meal, people continued to pour in. I was grateful for the opportunity to share a meal with so many but I honestly wasn’t sure where the food was going to come from. I was a newlywed who didn’t yet know how to stock a pantry just in case and I had only moved into this apartment a few days before.

Guests shuffled past unpacked boxes and pushed packing materials off the couch as they sat down. Our home was filled but I was so nervous our stomachs would not be.

I looked at my mom in shock as she started to coach me on how to stretch this meal and we both started praying. I distinctly remember this was the first, though not the last, time I prayed, “Lord you somehow fed 5000 with tiny amount, please do whatever You did then, here today!”.

The food stretched, stomachs were filled, everyone lingered getting to know one another and enjoying the conversation. None of them really knew they weren’t planned for. In a quiet, private way as the Lord so often does, He revealed His provision for so many and I felt it was a gift just for me in those moments.

I knew of the need and I knew of the provision while almost no one else did. In the quiet of my heart, I worshipped the Lord for what He had done and I learned a lesson about receiving with a glad and thankful heart (Acts 2:46).

Hospitality, because of the beautiful way it has revealed God’s provision to me, has taught me a great deal about thanksgiving and praise that I thought might be of benefit to you as well.

Related: Homeless In My Living Room

1. Recognize that all we have is God’s anyway

Everything I have ultimately belongs to the Lord and I am merely a steward of it (Matthew 25:14-30). If that is true (and it is) it becomes much easier for me to give it away.

I own nothing so, when the opportunity arises for me to give what I feel I cannot spare, I can do so rejoicing because it is not ultimately mine in the first place. God allowed me the job that gave me the money. OR God allowed me the family that provided for my needs. OR God chose some other miraculous means. But it is all His and He has allowed me a portion I am to steward well. I must hold everything He gives with an open hand. It is not mine to hoard and He will take care of me.

2. God supplies our needs

We have nothing except that which God has, in His grace, given to us. We make no money, we have no food, or shelter, and clothing except that the Lord in His grace allows us to use it. He knows what we need and He cares for His children. Where we experience physical lack here, we have the opportunity to look with anticipation toward Heaven when all will be made right and we will lack no good thing.

The same God who has always provided for me before, does so now as well. He is meeting my needs and He is meeting the needs of His children through me. May I be a vessel He uses in that mission rather than a hindrance to the work!

3. We must pray

In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:11) Jesus says we should ask God to “give us this day our daily bread.” He doesn’t say we should look for opportunities to heap up material wealth and blessing. He says we should ask God for what we need for today. When I was watching people pour through my door, the meal I had prepared beforehand felt smaller and smaller but God met my need.

The prayer that God would provide for us was genuine as I wanted to be used to give the guests in my home their daily bread and God chose to work through those prayers. He met our needs. Everyone ate. And I learned a little more about the importance of prayer. If I had planned for all those people, I wouldn’t have experienced the last minute stress but I also wouldn’t have seen God’s miraculous provision.

The Lord desires that we pray genuinely, not for fortunes to be built up so that we never have need, but for daily provisions so that we can see the hand of God in the moment by moment provisions He makes for His people.

Related: When Finances Make Hospitality Hard

Thankfulness through Hospitality

And in each of these ways I learned to practice thankfulness. I am thankful that all I have is God’s. I do not need to fight for my rights to use it for my own ends. I am thankful that God supplies all our needs because I do not have to be consumed with the stress of heaping up treasures on earth. I am thankful that I can turn to my God in prayer because I know He delights in answering the call of His children, and sometimes He gives special gifts that only a few of us see so that He can receive the glory from our hearts in the quiet moments of praise.

Hospitality has given me many things to be thankful for. It has given me friends and community, deep connection and the chance to laugh. It has allowed me to walk the path of life with thousands of different people and never leave my living room. And it has given me quiet moments with my God where I have seen His intimate care for me. Hospitality is the perfect place to practice faith in God and thankfulness for His continued provision.

Gatherings Guide photo

If you would like some ideas for how to be hospitable, check out my FREE guide – 15 Gatherings You Can Plan in 15 Minutes.

How have you seen this to be true in your life thus far? Has hospitality been an opportunity for you to practice thankfulness? If not, how can you start practicing this kind of hospitality today? Let me know in the comments below!