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Description: When we open our homes to hospitality, how do our day-to-day lives change? Jen Schmidt is the popular lifestyle blogger behind Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, and she’s the author of the brand-new book Just Open the Door: How One Invitation Can Change a Generation. Jen is Kristin’s kindred spirit, and today they trade tidbits of wisdom about shepherding guests into their homes. And stay tuned to the very end of the episode, where Jen reveals her favorite ways to get folks to the table (hint: brunch is involved).
Show Summary:
I’ve met a dear kindred spirit. Listen to the episode, you’ll see what I mean.
Jen Schmidt is busy. She’s a motivational speaker, worship leader, and writer. She’s the blogger behind the popular lifestyle site Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Now she’s the author of the brand-new book Just Open the Door: How One Invitation Can Change a Generation. If that weren’t enough, she’s a wife and a mom to five kids.
Yet Jen finds time for hospitality—and a lot of it.
As a fellow hospitality enthusiast, I was so thrilled to have Jen on the show today. I love swapping all kinds of hospitality hacks and stories. That’s one of the best parts of this community: we get to learn from each other (and laugh at our blunders along the way).
Jen and I talked about a lot of practical ways we can show hospitality to others. Here are some of my favorite things we discussed
- Why hospitality is a marathon, not a sprint
- How we can extend an invitation to neighbors we’ve never invited over
- Why spontaneous hospitality may be the easiest
- The quickest recipes to feed a crowd
- Jen’s favorite ways to get folks to the table (hint: brunch is involved)
Kitchen Segment: Pimento Cheese Biscuits
Links/Products/Recipes Discussed:
Just Open the Door: Bible Study Book
Jen’s Copycat Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole
Jen’s 10-Minute Cheese Ravioli Bake
Interview Quotes:
“We tend to overthink it, over stress, over plan, then we shut the door. And I had that modeled for me for 40 years. I wanted to share what it means to have this generational impact, this trickle-down effect of what stepping forward in hospitality can do not only in your own home, but as you model it for your children, as you model it for your neighbors, for those around you . . . when we extend just this gift of invitation to just one person, we don’t have to invite 20 people, right? We can just start with one.”
–Jen Schmidt
“You’re not going to find in scripture where Jesus says, “Okay, go and welcome and invite, but after you’ve figured out five perfect steps to host . . . No, His invitation says, ‘Follow Me.’”
–Jen Schmidt
“I tend to be the queen of best intentions. I intend to invite the people over. I intend to finish this project. And then all of a sudden a week, a month, six months goes by, and Queen of Best Intentions never got [it] done. So right now, when this podcast is done, think of that person that you have said for the last three months, “I need to reach out to her and just text her and see how she’s doing, and maybe ask if [she wants] to get coffee.” It just starts by doing it. And don’t overthink it, right? Don’t talk yourself out of it before it happens. Take that first step.”
–Jen Schmidt
“I’m at my best with spontaneous hospitality because, sometimes, let’s be honest: if you invite someone spontaneously the bar is lower.”
–Jen Schmidt
“Jesus [is] the model of all things welcome, right? Everywhere He went, He walked this road of welcome. And so He was perfect. And yet He poured out, He poured out, but then He retreated and He got away from people too. So I love being able to look at Jesus and say, “I am kind of an all-or-nothing person. I will go go go. But then I have to step back, and I will lay on my couch, and I will binge watch a TV show.”
–Jen Schmidt, on hospitality burnout
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