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Entertaining Made Easy: 3 Hospitality Hacks

You’ve tested one of our “Come on Over Recipes,” and you’re ready to take the next step and invite someone over for a meal, for a yummy dessert, or for a friends-and-family game night. Or maybe you’re an experienced hostess just looking for some fresh ideas or for ways to simplify your current routine. We’re here to help!

Joe and I believe that our home should be a haven—not just for us, but for all who enter its doors. It’s not about stuff. (Otherwise, decluttering/simplifying wouldn’t be a multimillion-dollar industry!) It’s about being who we are, where we live…living out our faith.

That said, here are a few quick-and-easy hospitality hacks from the Henderson house!

(The following portion of the post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click on the link to purchase the item, we receive a small commission, at no additional charge to you.)

Once the meal is over, set the table for the next meal.
  • It feels great to have something accomplished prior to when it is needed!
  • When you are preparing to entertain, this allows you to see if anything is missing or if there is something you have forgotten to set out.
  • It creates a sense of order.
  • It produces a sense of anticipation.
  • Don’t just do this for guests, do it every day! This is our house, not staged, after dinner this evening. Notice that the breakfast table (back in the sunroom) is already set for tomorrow morning as well. You may need to use your table for other tasks between meals, and that’s okay. Just set everything out once the table is ready to be used for the next meal.
Have calm instrumental music playing in the background.
  • It presents a peaceful atmosphere.
  • It invites pleasant conversation. (My mom would often say, “It’s hard to argue when there’s pretty music playing!”)
  • It states that their arrival was not a surprise. You planned for it by having the music playing when they arrived.
  • It helps to keep the cook (you!) calm.
  • Some of our favorites (click to learn more and/or to purchase):
Use games as household decor.
  • Unique games like mancala (pictured in the photo from our Great Room) make great conversation starters.
  • They provide a comfortable environment for conversing with someone you are just getting to know.
  • They are convenient to use when you’re “killing time” until the casserole is ready.
  • They create cross-generational settings.
  • They’re fun!

The most important thing to remember is the oft-quoted truth: Hospitality is not about the condition of your home; it’s about the condition of your heart.

So open your heart and tell a friend, “Come on over!”

 

 

 

 

By Petals from the Basket | June 18, 2019 | Entertaining, Events, Family, Friends, God-and-I-Time, Ideas, Life Changes, Organization |

SALE! Fall Bible Study Materials

June is half over, and I, for one, would like a refund on the first half! Wow, has it flown!

With the summer months bound to fly by just as quickly, it’s time to select and purchase your fall Bible study materials. We want this to be a little extra easy for you this year, so we completed two tasks on our to-do list (contains *affiliate links):

  1. We reduced the price of Choosing to Change when Change Happens, our ladies’ Bible study that looks at the life of Moses, from $9.99 to $7.99! This will remain the price for individual copies of this study. You may click here to order individual copies from Amazon…BUT before you do, read the next offer!
  2. We created a price break for multiple copies, available in sets of 10, for $50.00 each! That’s $5.00 per book…AND…there is no additional shipping cost! This great offer lasts until 11:59 p.m. (EST) on June 30, 2019, and then it’s gone. Available only in sets of 10. Simply click on the “BUY NOW” button below and enter the quantity of sets of 10 that you need.

Now it’s time for you to complete your to-do list and purchase your fall ladies’ Bible study books at these great prices!

Want to see a sample chapter before you order? Click here to download a PDF copy of the Preface and Lesson 2!




By Petals from the Basket | June 15, 2019 | Bible Reading, Books, Events, God-and-I-Time, Life Changes |

Change Happens: 3 Positive Elements to Focus on when It Does

Closing Day in SC with Nelson & Galbreath, Attorneys at Law!

The tarp that covered our “leftover” earthly goods (i.e., the ones that we hadn’t sent in the moving truck a few days earlier) appeared to flap excitedly down the highway as Joe drove his little red truck in front of my car and probably made us look a lot like the “Beverly Hillbillies” to passersby. However, in our case, there was no gushing “Texas tea” involved, and our destination at the end of April was not Southern California but South Carolina.

If you’ve ever made an out-of-state (or even across-town) move, you know that moving is not for sissies! In fact, if you’ve ever faced any major changes in your life, you know that change can wreak havoc on the comfort you find in your routines, traditions, and familiar surroundings. I confess to you, sweet faith-friend, that generally speaking, I am not a huge fan of change.

However, in the midst of change—nearly any kind of change—there are positive elements that can guide you through longing for the familiar and propel you forward into focusing on the positive (though not always easy) aspects of change. Here are three of those positive elements.

Choose to believe that change is entrusted to you.

Sadly, many of us treat change with a passive approach. We say, “Change happens. There’s nothing I can do about it.” We may even sit and pout because of the change that we think was “inflicted upon us.” But there is something we can do! When change happens, we can choose to believe that the change was entrusted to us.

Philippians 4:8 (ESV): “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

What is true is that this thing—this change—happened.

God didn’t withhold something or someone from you because He doesn’t like you.

God didn’t stop loving you.

God didn’t love someone else more than He loved you or love you more than He loved someone else.

God entrusted this change, trial, blessing, disappointment, gift, heartache, loss to you. View it as an honor, a privilege—an assignment, even. View it not through God’s eyes—because we cannot see as He sees—but view it through God’s heart. His compassionate, loving, caring, wisdom-filled heart caused Him to choose you as the recipient of this change.

Choose to know that change can enlighten you.

Enlighten: “to supply with spiritual insight or light” (Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary). In my own words: “that which provides the recipient with an aha moment!” An aha moment? Back to the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary for this one: “a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension.”

Moses’s aha moment came in Exodus 15. From the time of Moses’s birth, through the ten plagues the Israelites endured in Egypt, and even through the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14), Moses referred to God as “their God,” “your God,” or even “our God.” His relationship with God seemed formal, distant, not fully personal.

But the Red Sea changed everything!

This was where Moses found himself after the exodus from Egypt—trusting God. And God, Who is always good, demonstrated His power in a larger-than-life way! He parted the waters of the Red Sea, and God, Who is faithful to His word—every time—not only got the Israelites across the Red Sea; but their sandals were dry when they got there!

I believe that this is why,in Exodus 15, Moses finally personalizes his relationship with God, using the word my six times in reference to God in verse 2 alone as his enlightened heart began to sing: “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him” (Exodus 15:2, ESV).

Choose to see that change can equip you.

I believe that when Moses humbly and willingly put himself under the teaching of God almighty and not only learned from Him but in so doing learned about Him, God was able to equip Moses through the changes he was facing at nearly every turn of his journey through the wilderness.

You see, that’s a key step when you are choosing to change when change happens—humbly and willingly placing yourself under godly teaching and instruction so that you will be equipped to keep moving forward in your spiritual journey. Because God created you for a purpose, He will equip you for that purpose. And He may use change to do so.

Moses, using the lessons that change had taught him, was equipped to train his successor well (as recorded in Deuteronomy 31:7–8, NKJV): “Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.’”

Moses could confidently tell Joshua to trust in the almighty God. He knew firsthand that God would equip (prepare) Joshua for the changes that were before him, because God had used the changes that had come through trials, joys, battles, and victories to equip Moses for every change on his journey.

Whatever change God entrusts to you, allow it to enlighten you to the greatness of our good God and to equip you for whatever lies ahead.

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(The following contains an affiliate link, meaning that if you click on the link to purchase the item, at no additional cost to you, I will receive a small commission from Amazon.)

Check back on Saturday for a special offer on multiple copies of Brenda’s seven-lesson Bible study for women: Choosing to Change when Change Happens. This book, suitable for individual or group study was, in part, the source for today’s blog post.

By Petals from the Basket | June 13, 2019 | Bible Reading, Books, Events, Family, Friends, Ideas, Life Changes |

How to Keep Calm in the Midst of Uncertain Change

I don’t recall that my mom ever yelled at us. Instead, her voice grew softer when she wanted us to stop quarreling, be still, and listen. In like manner, as the children of Israel were being chased, literally, by the Egyptians who had enslaved them, Moses instructed them to “stand still.”

13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Exodus 14:13–14, ESV

They were frantic. Their emotions were getting the best of them, and they were inciting a “mob mentality”: because the growing crowd of nervous complainers was growing, more were joining in, getting even more people all riled up.

However, Moses had listened to, learned from, and personally witnessed numerous acts of God by this time, and he knew that the key to keeping calm in the midst of uncertain change was to rely on the power of the almighty God. Moses could give the instructions of verse 13 because he believed the promise in verse 14.

The promise of this verse—“The Lord will fight for you”—was originally spoken in a specific setting for a specific time. But we often enter times when we grow frantic, listen to bad input from others, and are fearful of the outcome. The same God Who fought for the Israelites will fight for us!

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(Affiliate Links are included below: this simply means that if you choose to click on the links below to make your purchase(s),
we will receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, from Amazon.)

This post first appeared on “June 4” in Pages of Promises: 365 Devotional Thoughts on the Promises of God. Additionally, it found its origin, in part, in Brenda’s seven-lesson Bible study, Choosing to Change when Change Happens, which is suitable for individual or group study. Click here to learn more and to order your copies.

By Petals from the Basket | June 6, 2019 | Bible Reading, Books, God-and-I-Time, Ideas, Life Changes |

But I’m Not a Mom

This post first appeared on the blog on May 9, 2014 and again on May 6, 2016 and May 12, 2017. Though I have removed one paragraph and tweaked a few words because my marital status has changed since the original post, my prayer is that it will once again serve as a reminder to all of us this Mother’s Day weekend.

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With my sweet mama, whom I love, admire, and respect!

There is only one way for single and childless women to view Mother’s Day—the right way. There is no other option. So what is the right way? Let me partially answer that by first sharing what it is not.

On my sister Marcia’s birthday, it would be foolish for me to be upset, stay home from her birthday celebration to watch a sad movie, and eat ginormous amounts of Hot Tamales (my comfort food of choice) just because the celebration isn’t about me.

On my sister Karen’s wedding anniversary, it would have been obnoxious for me to have written a blog post in the years prior to my own marriage, asking the world to stop celebrating wedding anniversaries just because I didn’t have one to celebrate and telling them to be sensitive to my lack in their time of celebration.

Therefore, my single friends and friends without children, this coming Sunday, let’s celebrate our own mothers as well as mothers everywhere for the amazing work that they do. Do you seriously think that when the pastor of the church has mothers stand up to recognize them for their all-too-often thankless role in shaping the generation of the future that your spiritual leader is, in actuality, saying, “What I really want you to do is turn around and take note of all the women not standing and inwardly laugh hysterically that there must be something horribly wrong with them since they are either childless or, worse yet, without a spouse altogether”?

As harsh as it may sound, the answer is NO! This is not about you. [And in you, I include me!]

Too often, as singles or as those without children, we turn situation after situation into what we think is a time of “permissible whining” because we are spouseless or childless. Yes, those situations hurt—I understand…firsthand. But whining is not permissible, and it is not attractive!

We say that we trust God’s leading, but then we fail to trust Him enough to obey His commands:

“Do everything [yes, everything!] without grumbling….” —Philippians 2:14, NIV

“Give thanks in all [yes, all] circumstances….” —I Thessalonians 5:18, NIV

“Rejoice [yes, rejoice] with those who rejoice….” —Romans 12:15, NIV

WAIT! Don’t say it yet! Because I know what some of you are thinking: “But, Brenda, the second half of that last verse you posted reminds believers to ‘mourn with those who mourn.’ So I expect the street to go both ways!”

And you would be right. It should go both ways. But what if it doesn’t? Does that excuse you from rejoicing on their behalf, particularly, in this setting, as they rejoice in the role of motherhood? You know the answer.

So is it wrong to be sad that you are without a spouse or that you still don’t have children after many years of trying and praying for a child? Of course not. Just remember to keep it a desire and not a demand!

And more importantly, remember to rejoice with those who have been given what you long for. Focus on others this weekend. Applaud those amazing females when they stand in church during their far-too-brief moment of recognition! Look beyond your own garden and see the beautiful array of flowers that we all get the opportunity to celebrate this weekend!

I’m throwing in this final paragraph, even though it may seem to slightly contradict all of the above…well…because I can! One of my nieces calls me or texts me every year on Mother’s Day and thanks me for being “a woman of influence” in her life, knowing that my desire for motherhood is not one that will ever be fulfilled at this point and choosing to lift me up on a day when the evil ick whispers in my ear more often than he should be allowed to do! So let me encourage you—both married women and single women—to think of a single woman or a childless woman you could encourage this weekend by thanking her for her influence in your life. No, you’re not trying to make it a “substitute Mother’s Day” celebration for her—she’s not a mom. You are simply using this widely celebrated weekend that honors mothers as an impetus to celebrate women who have impacted your life! (In the process, it just may serve as a means to remind you that you’re not the only one who is not a mom.)

The bottom line? To my friends and family who are moms, I wish you the most joyful of all Mother’s Days! To my friends who, like myself, are not moms, I wish you a day of joy as you look outward and celebrate those who are!

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By Petals from the Basket | May 12, 2019 | Auntie Brenda (Dating/Singles), Bible Reading, Events, Family, Friends, Life Changes |