What If the Small Things Are Actually the Big Things? | Guest Post by Alexa Mason

How hospitality can draw us nearer to God when “doing great things” for Him has kept us away.

We have quite a few new readers here after last week’s essay on ordinary faithfulness in Ephesians. Welcome! One of the things we do here at Beautiful Discipleship is share the voices of those who are living out that kind of ordinary faithfulness as they reflect God’s beauty in the world.

This month’s guest post is by Alexa Mason. I first crossed paths with Alexa on Instagram through our shared interest in a theology of hospitality. Quite a few years later it is wonderful to see how God has directed her family to living it out in such a unique way. Alexa is a maker who focuses on the relationship between hospitality and formation as it relates to interior design. After many cross country moves, she's settled outside of Atlanta, GA, where she lives with her husband and their four children at Philo, their 10-acre property where they're making a place of beauty and hospitality for people to connect with God, themselves and others. Alexa loves hiking, tea, the Buckeyes and connecting with others.

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash (edited)

Driving cross country in a Penske truck on my 23rd birthday with my husband of barely one week, I boldly declared that I wanted a job at a non-profit organization where I could use my broadcasting skills to help people. I preferred it to be Christian, but that wasn’t a non-negotiable After all, “don’t secular organizations need Christians, too?” I thought. 

Two weeks after our arrival to Portland, Oregon, I found a job listing for a public relations role at a non-profit serving people experiencing homelessness and addiction recovery. And to my surprise, it was also Christian. Talk about an answered prayer. 

I loved every bit of my job. Each day there were opportunities to serve and care for marginalized people by speaking out against injustice and encouraging our community toward acts of mercy. I spoke to news networks to share insights on the complexities of homelessness. I met with City Commissioners and other leaders to vision cast and implement plans to build a better city for our most vulnerable residents. I had the opportunity to regularly encourage men and women in their sobriety, doing Bible studies and leading other relationship building events. I witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit. I experienced the beauty of God through the testimony of people in our programs. I co-created with God, partnering with Him to make something beautiful. I was doing great things. 

But over time that all changed. I had my first child, left my role for nearly a year and then returned. only to get pregnant with my second child within the first month back. I chose to stay home full-time after having baby number two, and within the year we ended up moving back across the country. My focus in life was on caring for our kids, trying to make new friends in a new city, and dealing with the grief that comes from leaving a deeply rooted community you love. Nothing about my life felt great. Nothing about what I was creating seemed beautiful. 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is approached by the mother of the Sons of Zebedee. She asks that her sons sit in places of honor next to Jesus in His Kingdom. Jesus responds to her that such a thing is not His to give but the Father will decide. Jesus then speaks to the disciples and says, 

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20: 25-28, CSB)

Humility. Meekness. Faithfulness. Sure these are good, but are they great?

According to the Word, yes. It’s truly that simple. A life of greatness may seem far away, but perhaps that pursuit is merely a distraction. Perhaps our definition of greatness is distorted. The disciples literally walked with Jesus and yet they still felt a need to stake their claim in Christ’s Kingdom, they felt the need to ensure that they would indeed be great. I don’t blame them. I had been doing the same thing.

The desire for meaning and purpose lies in each of our hearts, beckoning us toward a life that points to something more, something eternal, or rather, some One. We distort this longing when we make it about our own greatness. But each time we choose the humble way of Love and service as we follow the ways of Jesus, we reflect the beauty of God. Jesus, the One who gives us new life, says that we must become a servant.

I was incredibly lonely during this season at home, but my years of loneliness trained me to attune my ears to the Lord’s voice. With so much stripped away, I began to see and hear more clearly. I noticed new opportunities to love people in my everyday life. Ordinary trips to Target became unexpected opportunities to show compassion. Awareness of the constant distractions in my heart stirred me to become more present. Getting on my knees under our dining room table to clean up my child’s spilled oatmeal (again) became an opportunity to commune with God “Is this what meekness looks like Lord?” I’d ask. “Is this what it means to serve and not be served?” 

It was in this low place that I became enamored with the role of hospitality in our lives. I had always loved showing hospitality, but I had no idea that what started as a simple interest in the role of hospitality in interior design would open my eyes to seeing hospitality as a way of being in the world. Hospitality was no longer just a one time act of showing care, but a constant pursuit of presence, a willingness to be interrupted, experiencing what it means to show welcome, generosity, and care both to those I welcomed into my home, and also in the interactions that occurred outside of home. 

As I considered the role of hospitality in the formation of who I am becoming, I discovered that the more I learn to truly serve people, the more I learn to truly love people. But, it doesn’t stop there. As I practice hospitality, I also begin to discover the source of my belonging and am drawn even more deeply into the heart of God. 

John 13:3 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. This is what much of my ability to show hospitality depends on. The Word reads,

“Jesus knew that God had given everything into His hands, that He had come from God and was going back to God.” (John 13:3, CSB)

Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit who makes a home within us. We have everything we need. God chose to create us, we have no other Maker. We know who we come from. We are promised a life in glory with God, Jesus is coming back and there is a New Creation in which we will one day dwell. We know to whom we shall return. 

The Word continues,

“So He (Jesus) got up from supper, laid aside His outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around Himself. Next, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around Him.” (John 13:4-5, CSB) 

From this deep knowing of His belonging, Jesus served and then instructed His disciples to do the same. Now, in obedience, we also must go and serve, not out of our striving to “do something great”, but from the reality of our secured belonging, our unbreakable connection to God who loves us extravagantly.

Thankfully for us, opportunities to serve others abound, it’s just a matter of paying attention and crying out like the prophet Isaiah, “Here I am, send me!” Even if that sending is merely to your next door neighbor or volunteering at the local library. What is beautiful about Isaiah’s crying out isn’t that He goes and performs miraculous deeds, it’s that he is faithful to God. The same is true for you and I when we respond in obedience to what God is laying before us with a resounding “Yes Lord, I will!” Whether what He’s asking of us feels significant or not, we testify that He is indeed worthy of all of our lives.

Slowly, what was really in my heart was revealed. I had begun to disdain ordinary faithfulness—like showing kindness or practicing patience—and opted for the extraordinary, outwardly purposeful acts that seemed bigger, more impressive and thus more holy. But God was at work, using hospitality as a part of my discipleship that took me deeper into the throes of learning to truly serve. All my questions around purpose, worth, and my angst at a life that felt so stifled and small were forced into the light. Ultimately, I found myself asking God, “Are these simple acts of caring for another person with joy and generosity, really seen as great in Your eyes? Is this a worthy life?”

Slowly, I am choosing to pay attention to the ways I can show hospitality to those around me. 

I am learning to reject the lie that greater means seeking something outside of what God has given me to do today. I am seeking to enjoy daily opportunities to commune with God, even in the most ordinary of tasks.

May we all choose the narrow way of Love and service as we faithfully live our lives, the ones that are actually in front of us. May our hospitality be less concerned with our own greatness and more delighted in reflecting God’s beauty and drawing others toward Him.