a screaming firework.

Well, yesterday was the 4th of July. It was a crazy day for me, literally. My sister, and her family were in town for 24 hours and it was a lot of fun, good times. I'm so glad they came. It was also exhausting and I felt the need to be 'the hostess with the most-ess'. At the end of the day as I was watching all the fireworks in a quite strange atmosphere (an industrial park in a small Kansas town) I felt like one of those screaming fireworks. Most of the day I was just going, going, going. Those closest to me sensed the internal screaming loud and clear. It wasn't nearly as pretty as the displays I saw last night, but there was something wonderful about still being loved and challenged to look at myself in the midst of it all. Today I've been thinking, praying that God would show me how to offer hospitality in ways that are natural to me. I don't have to create a space that I think the recipient would want or expect. When people walk into the door of my life and home I want them to experience a place to rest, to be free and enjoy themselves and others. And I want to experience the same things as I interact with them. I'm still learning.