How's the Serving Coming?

So, last night didn’t go quite as Rip and I had planned. My cousin is in town with her son and we had invited them to dinner. But as the day came to a close, after running here and there throughout our city’s capital building all day, (serving as a page – in a coat and tie and dress shoes), her son was exhausted. And when they got to their hotel room, he had loads of school work waiting for him online.

After getting her text needing to take a rain check, I skooted quickly home from a new client’s home because we had invited my parents over for supper too, just to surprise them with her visit.

But here’s the deal, I had planned lemon pepper chicken with stir fry, mom was bringing a salad (thinking it would be just the 4 of us) and then some steamed rice. BUT when I pulled up in the driveway …. we changed our minds from cooking and preparing and instead, dad & Rip drove down to Sonic, grabbed up burgers and tater tots and we gathered around our kitchen table and had THE BEST visit!!

My mom and dad keep up with Fox News and all that is going on in the world so well, and I – well – by the time I get home at the end of the day, I’m usually just wanting food, a hot bath and then listen to Rip’s daily “stories about stuff” that are sooooo hilarious and then I crash in bed early.

But as we all sat around the table, talking about world events, then talking about children & grandchildren, then talking about work stuff …. they left and I realized something –
A captured moment of home.

I captured in my heart the overwhelming JOY of having my parents just a few miles down the road. To be able to have a spontaneous meal with them. To listen to them talk. To watch my crazy dad make us all laugh. To see my mom hug her son-in-law and tell her how proud of him she is. To see them in such incredible health, strong, able, sharp … and to simply be able to throw my arms around them and give them hugs.

I may have enjoyed serving up Sonic on pretty dishes and with cloth napkins (y’all know how I feel about those napkins!!), but what I really enjoyed was serving up “time.”
We all live busy lives y’all. We all do. We can easily go from here to there, and then collapse with our families, and not make REAL time with them. To not just talk, but to listen is a huge way of serving – it’s serving up love in a one of the most meaningful ways.

Caring.

“Capture Every Moment of Home” is a direction I feel the Lord leading me to really notice and applaud Him for and to encourage us to slooooow down — and capture home. Capturing moments of home can become a habit of our heart – a habit that we can literally capture with our cameras, but most importantly capture in our appreciation & praise!

And there are no more special moments in any home, than those moments when we are serving our loved ones. Serving them time, attention, fun, surprises, serving them through sacrifice, through listening, filling up their bellies while filling up their hearts with unconditional love.
So, how’s the serving coming? Capture those moments…and share them here, too, if you’d like. We would love to celebrate them with you.

In His Serving Grace,
lisa