Honored Guest

Romans 9:9

Genesis 18:1-10

Hebrews 13:2

Entertaining angels? Well, that's not quitehow I'd describe my brothers...

I wonder how quickly Abraham recognized his visitors. Perhaps from his previous encounters with God he even realized who they were before running to meet them.
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I wonder whether the Lord's "return" the following year was in the same form. It appears that if he did come back as a traveler, Abraham didn't recognize Him, since that would have been a significant enough event to include in the Bible with the first part of the story. Perhaps he entertained the three strangers a second time as if they were any other ordinary passers-by and never realized who he was offering hospitality to.
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Whether Abraham had another opportunity to host the Lord or not; whether he recognized Who he was hosting a second time or not; how incredible it is that he recognized his guests the first time. I have certainly never knowingly had the opportunity to extend hospitality to angels, although I have had many wonderful guests over. I often find that I am more blessed for the gift of being the hostess than my guests might be for being the guest. It is a blessing to be invited over to someone else's home, but it is an even greater blessing to invite others into our home. The frequency we're able to do that is mostly dependent on me and my home management. I need to continue to improve in my job so that we can have guests over more often. I need to maintain a clean home and a full pantry, plan meals that are simple to prepare but enjoyable and easy to increase for last-minute additions to our table, train my children in ways they can help out more, be ready with recipes for grilling at parks, kosher or allergen-free meals, and "quick! you have 1/2 hour to put it all together" meals for last-minute opportunities. As I have worked on each of these areas, it has become easier to welcome guests into our home. But it's still difficult at times, so I need to continue to improve. Hopefully with each year that goes by I will be a little better at my home management so we can enjoy the blessing of offering hospitality a little more often or in new ways as time goes by.

A future opportunity for hospitality: refinished attic gives
space for children's sleepovers and more daytime
babysitting; maybe even short/long-term guests in the
bedroom our girls are moving out of