{"id":5047,"date":"2015-04-10T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T13:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.brethren.org\/?p=5047"},"modified":"2015-04-10T08:00:33","modified_gmt":"2015-04-10T13:00:33","slug":"ebrethren-4-10-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/2015\/04\/10\/ebrethren-4-10-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Living lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cEvery<\/a>
\u201cEvery meal was a living lesson.\u201d
Photo by Regina Holmes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Adapted from \u201cRaising a Grateful Child\u201d by Dr. Rich Melheim.<\/p>\n

\u201cExample is not the main thing in life. It is the only thing.\u201d
\n\u2014Albert Schweitzer<\/p>\n

<\/em>I grew up in a home where thanksgiving and thanks-living were core\u2014not only to what we did but also to who we were.<\/p>\n

Every meal at our table started with \u201cCome, Lord Jesus, be our guest\u201d and ended with \u201cO give thanks unto the Lord for He is good and his mercies endureth forever.\u201d My sisters and I didn\u2019t need a lecture, lesson, or worksheet on gratitude. Every meal was a living lesson.<\/p>\n

We lived in a little railroad town where the homeless, drifters, and vagabonds filtered through every spring and fall on their way to somewhere and often on their way to nowhere. These travelers had our little house pegged as a place for a free meal and some kindness.<\/p>\n

From May to October, there were constant knocks at the door, sometimes multiple times a week. Mom would open to the hungry face, then send our unexpected\u2014yet expected\u2014guest around to the back step for a hot plate of home-cooked food, a smile, and a listening ear. Mother often muttered something about \u201centertaining angels unaware\u201d after visitors left. My sisters and I didn\u2019t need a lecture, lesson, or a worksheet on stewardship. Every back-door meal was a living lesson.<\/p>\n

On Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, we entertained a houseful of college students from faraway and others who were alone on these special days. My parents\u2019 attitude was \u201cyou can always throw more water in the soup\u201d and \u201cwhere there\u2019s love, there\u2019s room.\u201d We grew up serving these guests every holy day before we ourselves would eat. We spent countless festivals carting borrowed card tables and chairs from church to fill our house with hospitality, laughter, and love.<\/p>\n

To my parents, there was no caring without sharing. If you were blessed, you were blessed to be a blessing. Again, we didn\u2019t need a lecture, lesson, or worksheet on hospitality while growing up. Every holiday was a holy day and an opportunity for a living lesson.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rich Melheim is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This story was published in full in the 2015 edition of <\/em>Givingmagazine, produced by the Ecumenical Stewardship Center<\/a> and distributed by the Church of the Brethren<\/a>. Order complimentary copies of this and past issues at www.brethren.org\/givingmag<\/a>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/em>(Read this issue of eBrethren<\/a>)\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adapted from \u201cRaising a Grateful Child\u201d by Dr. Rich Melheim. \u201cExample is not the main thing in life. It is the only thing.\u201d \u2014Albert Schweitzer I grew up in a home where thanksgiving and thanks-living were core\u2014not only to what we did but also to who we were. Every meal at our table started with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[357,496,1101],"class_list":["post-5047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ebrethren","tag-ebrethren","tag-giving-magazine","tag-stewardship"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5047\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}