Hang Your Hat And Stay Awhile 10/25/2016

Good Morning,

My mug of Door County Autumn Spice Coffee awaits me in the kitchen. Rene let me know before she walked out to the garage that she had poured one for me. How nice is that?

Within the inner sanctum of my lofted den is an old antique hat rack. The rack is guessed to be around one hundred years old. It is in great shape. Hanging on it are some hats that are "memory hats". Each hat is a memory of an event or in honor of a friend. The orange one on top is filled with holes and blood stains from the one hunting accident when I was accidentally shot. That's one to remember. The hats remind me of a theme we chose for or home two years before it was built.

When we built our home many years ago we always said that we wanted it to be a place where a person who needed a break could get a hot meal and a bed. Our thought was "hang your hat and stay awhile". God has answered that prayer from time to time. We were discussing the visitors who every now and then stayed with us for awhile. Our prayer was to be a blessing to others. But as Rene and I discussed those times and hopefully some more, we admitted that the company that crossed our door blessed us more than we could ever bless them. One little urchin who stayed with us now and then actually called us "spoiled" because we had individual soup crocks that we still use for serving soup and stews. That kid really made us want to treat her special and made us count our blessings that we did not have to eat from recycled sour cream containers. It is a gift to ask a guest what they would like for breakfast or dinner and make it for them. The washer never broke when washing clothes for others. We never ran out of firewood when someone needed to curl up by the fireplace. God always has provided free firewood.

God blessed this house with an oven and it turned out some home made candy for a couple depressed kids one night. Our griddle has made many a pancake for some late night guests who just need a place to hang out on a cold night. One year when I was laid up with a cold and a repaired knee, one of those kids stopped by to help us put up the Christmas tree. Those people will never know that when they hung their hat in the house, they also hung their hearts their forever.

Ecclesiastes 11:1New King James Version (NKJV)

11 Cast your bread upon the waters,
For you will find it after many days.

So after seeking to bless others, who was really blessed? We were. How about making yourself a blessing to others today?

Marty