community– setting the table and letting people in

Today I splurged a little and bought the fresh flowers to replace the fake ones that were  in this vase.

Sometimes you just need to splurge on flowers.  Bringing beauty in.
Day 6 of 31 days to Coming Alive is about prayer.  I am thinking about the prayer Jesus prayed in John 17:20.  He prayed that we might be one.

When we are one– walking into community– we bring a little beauty in. 
None of that fake flower stuff.
Community is real, vibrant, colorful. It brings a little of the glory of God in.

And the enemy wants that to die more then anything.
I am studying 1 John right now and it’s all about fellowship and community.  And the Lord has been teaching me.   I believe community is about setting the table and letting people in.

I love hosting people.  Something usually goes wrong when I do. And I often laugh about it with my guests. Sometimes I catch the pot holders on fire (right Kevin and Sarah). Sometimes I forgot to wash all the coffee grounds that seem to be all over my kitchen out of the dessert bowl.  Sometimes I make a recipe and use salt instead of sugar.  
But community is about setting the table and letting people in.  (even when your room is so messy you have to shut the door).
Jesus prayed we would be one.
Community is pausing to hear others story.
Community is the messy, the broken, the loving without a role or a reason. 
Tonight my table is set for some friends I am having over tomorrow.

I am asking my heart to also be set.  To feast on a banquet of the love of God — and then spill that love out all over.  I learned sometimes I spend to much time trying to love well because it looks well, instead out of the overflow of being loved by God well.

We are loved well.
So let’s love well.