I know, I know. I am twenty-something and still, when toodling around the house cleaning or cooking or something, every now and again I think, "I should have Beauty and the Beast on in the background."
So I do.
Oh boy, do I.
And while the first song ("Provincial Life") is really my favorite, I just can't really get over the Be Our Guest one. You all know that hospitality is like---BIG---to me, so I guess it goes without saying.
But, like all the other times: I will say it again. Hospitality is big to me.
I love being an overnight guest. I love having overnight guests. I think there is something special that happens when you wake up in the same house and eat breakfast in your jams with someone. There is a bond.
But being an overnight guest is different than having overnight guests. I know this because, honestly, I have been an overnight guest way more than I have had overnight guests (hopefully the tally will be evened out soon!).
Here are some snapshots (some you may remember) from some of my favorite times of being an overnight guest.
Since I am an overnight guest frequently due to the nature of my life, I have thought long and hard about this subject. Long and hard. I have been fortunate that the overwhelming majority of my overnight-guest-experiences have been wonderful. The Lord has blessed me with great peoples in my life and for that I am grateful. But sometimes I can't help but think: "But what if these were not good experiences?"
You know what I mean? In my opinion, things can go from good to bad in about a matter of three seconds. I have told you this in so many words in describing at length my feelings about bathrooms. Easy peasy, things can be good, and then they can go very south. But I haven't had too many of those experiences (praise the Lord).
Back to what I said though, being a house-guest is quite different than having house-guests. I mean, you are kind of at the mercy of your host and hostess. You eat what they give you, you stay where they tell you, you use what they provide. No matter how you cut it it is a sign of generosity and generosity is the be accepted thankfully and gracefully.
And as I was pondering this in my head, the thought occurred to me, "But what if I was a terrible house-guest?"
Ungrateful. Rude. Demanding. Critical.
What if I put up a fit? Or was like, "Oh sorry, I don't eat that...." as I look across a table that the hostess has so graciously set and put together?
I mean, can you imagine? Pride much? Looking at what they have done (that you don't deserve and didn't pay for) and basically saying, "Oh yeah, that's not good enough. You don't meet my standards..."
Yikes.
My mind ran to all kinds of places and scenarios about how terrible that would be and as I was ghastly horrified, I was reading in a different translation of the Bible. For whatever reason I picked up A New Living Translation, which is done in totally modern English. I was browsing through there the other morning and came upon Psalm 39.
The NLT put it into quite the little perspective for me.
"Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry! Don't sit back, unmindful of my tears. For I am your guest. I am a traveler passing through the earth, as all my fathers were." (very 12)
Do you see that??! I AM YOUR GUEST.
At first I thought, "How rude to say!" for I thought that it was implying, "I am your guest, wait on me, do my bidding. Go out of your way to please me."
But then. Then. I realized that that's not what it means at all. Because what happens when you are someone's guest?
YOU ARE AT THEIR MERCY.
Now tell me. When was the last time you rightfully judged your life and admitted, "God, I am at your mercy"?
Because you are.
We are his guest.
If our concept of the ordering of the world is right, we know that we are powerless apart from Christ. We cannot provide for ourselves. We cannot make things happen. We cannot save ourselves. We can't keep our own lives from harm.
We are at his mercy. Because we are his guest.
We eat what he gives us, we stay where he tells us to, we use what he provides, because all we have is what he has provided.
What a thought.
So then, because it begs the question: What kind of house-guest are you?
Do you look at your life and understand that it is all due to his generosity and his love (and love isn't all just flowers and hearts, it can be tough sometimes too)? What you have has come from the hand of God and that is to be treated reverently?
Or.....are you maybe in the other camp? Like the person refusing to eat what is placed before you? Because maybe it doesn't fit your standards? Or because it doesn't seem to be good enough for what you think you deserve?
The thing is, Wolfies, we don't deserve any of it. And we most certainly didn't pay for it. We are the beggars at his table, the lame ones he brought in off the street and chose to make his own.
He is not our guest, as if he is at our mercy to do as we bid. We are his guest. Don't get that role reversed, babies.
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