Southern Hospitality.

Southern Hospitality... Not a tangible thing, but an attitude which has been ingrained in southerners forever. It's a feeling of being sincerely welcomed as a guest or a long lost friend; a way of life that lets people be as warm as the climate. It's an easiness in speaking with total strangers or anyone, a unique friendliness encompassing the whole way of life in the deep south. 
It's not something one does, it's the way one is. -Dee Jackson

Can I just say that I am completely obsessed with all things Southern?! OK, here goes... I am obsessed with all things Southern! I love southern style houses and decor. Wrap around porches, with swings and rockers and lots of ferns hanging from the cedar rafters, give me the same butterflies that I got when I met my husband. I drink tea, serve biscuits and gravy, make homemade pies and there are random stems of dried lavender is almost every room of my home. I could go on and on, but you get the point. It all just makes my heart flutter. It defines ME! The thing about this whole "southern lifestyle" that draws me in the most is the nature of the hospitality. Hospitality is a huge thing for me! It is important to me that people find me friendly, warm and welcoming, encouraging and positive, and most of all, just KIND! Few things make me angrier than to see someone be unkind to another person. I. Do. Not. Like. It. At. All. As a woman I never wish to tear another woman down because I know what it is like to feel insecure, and it's not a fun feeling. Why would I knowingly place someone in that spot? As a wife, I want to be faithful and true to my husband and my family and encourage, as well as receive encouragement from other wives in my path. As a mother, I strive to never compete or compare myself to the likes of other mothers around me. I need help mothering, I do not have all of the answers. I say all of that to say this... we all need love, support and kindness for these areas of our lives and if we cannot communicate friendliness with others, we will never get the help we need.

Jacob Abbott, in 1835 writes this:
"Conversation flows cheeringly, for the southern gentleman has a particular tact in making a guest happy. After dinner you are urged to pass the afternoon and night and if you are a gentleman in manners and information, your host will be in reality highly gratified by your so doing. Such is the character of southern hospitality."

As much as I love providing southern hospitality in my home, even more so should I strive to provide hospitality to the world, as a Christian. I truly believe, with all of my heart, that people today are starved for the ministry of hospitality. Sadly, Christians today are so worried with keeping this facade up to the world. A facade that says, "I've never been where you are, you've gone alot farther that I ever did." or "If you can get your life together, then maybe we can sit down and talk." Let me remind you of a story in the Bible that we've mostly all heard before, but it is a wonderful example of hospitality.

 Zacchaeus was a tax collector and is widely considered to be a crook and thief of the people in Jericho. He was hated by those he stole from and God was not pleased with his actions. He was a sinner. We all know the story of when Jesus passed by and saw Zacchaeus in the Sycamore tree, he asked for him to come down, and said he would be at his house that day. What is so inspiring about this story is that Jesus did not even have to chasten Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus immediately flooded with sorrow and recompense. It was when he felt Jesus initiate a friendship with him, did it soften his heart. God wants to be our friend. He made man because He was lonely. God is the creator, He is our master and He deserves the utmost respect, but He desires to be our friend as well. He shows a spirit of hospitality because he knew that people would need a feeling of love and affection, someone to take honest interest in their lives.

I encourage you to take into account the unchurched members of your family, your friend at the workplace or the person you meet on the walking trail, they are looking to you to show love and kindness with a dose of Jesus. We are called to minister and witness. We are called to bring the lost in to the fold of Jesus. We are called to LOVE. Approach everyone you meet with hospitality. It will get you much further.

Dark.

At some point in everyone's life, we've experienced the dark. Loneliness. Regret. Depression.

I'm just returning home from a weekend getaway with my family of 3, my brother and sister in law, 2 sisters and parents to the Smoky Mountains, Tennessee. The weather has been low 50's and tons of rain. Needless to say, I did not pack enough sweaters and my hair looked like a terrible car wreck the entire time. The mountains are breathtaking at every season and time but this weekend they were a different kind of beautiful. There was so much fog and smoke that laid on the tip top and around the sides of them because of all the rain and cold that they looked like "smoky" mountains. The view served as a reminder that life is foggy, cold and dark at times. Vision is unclear and decisions weigh in a balance that makes us entirely too uncomfortable for our liking. 

My family is facing a situation right now, and at times the answer seems so clear, and other times, the right answer seems to be lost somewhere in the mountains I was just describing. So many important things and precious people are at stake with our decisions. The Bible says no man lives to himself, nor does he die to himself. Whether you are on the mountain or down in a valley, those around you are affected! 

The dark is scary. The unknown and hidden future can often times force us in a cave, isolated and alone. It keeps us from reaching potential, carrying out a purpose, meeting new people, seeing new places, loving and living in general. 

I'm just optimistic enough to think that the dark serves a big purpose! It is in my darkest times that I learn the hardest lessons. I come out STRONGER yall! Lessons are meant to be learned, life is made for change, and people are made to mature. I've got to remind myself "this too shall pass". As long as we are willing to put on the muck boots and wade through the water, we come out on the other side with pride and a new found strength and typically, we find answers and direction! Put on your big girl panties and DEAL, am I right? I was brought to this trial to go through and to help another along the way. How better can we help one another than we have experienced the same issues. 

I heard a song for the first time today from a southern gospel family group. Anyone that knows me knows I am not of fan of that kind of music typically but I thoroughly enjoyed this tune. I urge you to download it and listen for an uplift! But in case you don't want to go to the trouble or spend the $1.29 on iTunes, here are the lyrics. It's called God is Always Good, by the Bowling Family. 

I don't know why, I don't know when. I don't know how you'll make it through, but I know Him. But He is good and He is kind. Sometimes it's in the darkest night, we find... 

That God is always good, God is always good. Always was, always is, forever he will be. God is always good to you and me.

He knows your hope, and broken heart. He knows everything that led to where you are. And He'll provide all your needs, so rest on His unfailing love and see...

That God is always good, God is always good. Always was, always is, forever he will be. God is always good to you and me.

Time.

Ecclesiastes 3:1
There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven.

Am I intentional with my time? 

Yikes! This really kicks my tail. 

I turned 29 this August. I know right, I'm just a spring chicken. Everyone asked me if I was freaking out about the year before turning 30 and I gotta say, I didn't like the way it made me feel. One thing I do know is if my husband doesn't throw me a freaking party, I will be crying in a corner!

In all seriousness though, my biggest issue with myself is being displeased with how I spend my time. I've tossed around ideas of how I can save time in one place to spend more time in another place. The sad thing about time is, it WILL be spent. Time comes and time goes. As a woman, a wife and a mother I often feel my time is stretched so paper thin that no one gets the best of Keila. 

As a wife I long to spend my time cleaning my home, folding laundry so nice it looks like I picked it up from a retail store and placed it in my drawers. I love when I can tweak my decor and make things feel new and prettier. I absolutely love cooking and baking. I love things homemade and the satisfaction it brings me to make something from scratch. I may listen to a little Aerosmith while I do it, but Ree Drummond is wearing the apron. 

As a woman I love to shop, get a relaxing pedicure or massage. I love to style and primp, dance around to my favorite 80 or 90's tune. 

As a mother, well... it's my favorite thing to do! I love my baby boy! I love to cuddle him, teach him. He loves to play ball and wishes I would pitch ball to him from sun up to sun down and boy do I want to. I want to read him every book and watch all of his favorite cartoons. 

It saddens me, bearing these roles, that many nights I lay my head down in my king bed, with my loving husband and feel so defeated! How can I feel so discouraged when my physical and mental state is spread so thin?! 

Just at that moment when the first tear begins to roll down my cheek, God graciously reminds me that He is holding me, just as I hold my husband and child. As much as I love them, He loves me even more and as long as I'm living intentionally with Him and my family, then He is well pleased.