Practicing Hospitality: What’s Working for Us in Busy Seasons

We’re in a busy season. With little kids, homeschool days, and a full calendar, our family has found ourselves in survival mode more than once. And somewhere along the way, we realized we weren’t practicing hospitality in the ways we feel called to. We love opening our home, but it felt daunting to look at the calendar and figure out how to make it work in this season.

So we asked: what would it look like to practice hospitality in a way that acknowledged our busyness but still allowed us to invite people to our table?

Here’s what’s working for us right now.

Decide once on the when

Instead of scrambling week to week, we picked a night and stuck to it. For us, it’s Wednesday. It’s a night that doesn’t usually have a lot of other commitments, so we just decided: Wednesday night is our night to host. It’s easier for me to plan to host weekly than to plan sporadically. There’s something freeing about knowing the time is already set aside—it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Decide once on the what

The second decision we made was about food. Hosting often feels overwhelming because of the question, What am I going to make? So I picked one menu and I make it every single time (unless there are food restrictions). For us, it’s Asian-inspired chicken burgers with freezer dumplings (Sams Club) and an Asian salad kit (Walmart or Aldi). I’ve made them so many times I can practically do it in my sleep, and people genuinely enjoy the meal. The best part? I don’t have to reinvent the wheel every week. I know exactly what groceries to buy, and I can pull dinner together quickly on a Wednesday night.

Leave the who to the Lord

The last question is always who do we invite? Instead of pre-deciding that, we’ve left it open to prayer. Each week we consider who God might be putting in our path—maybe a new family at church, maybe someone we haven’t connected with in a while, maybe one of our small group leaders. That part has felt fun and life-giving, because it keeps us flexible. And if one week comes and goes without anyone around our table, that’s okay too.

By deciding once on the “when” and the “what,” we’ve given ourselves the bandwidth to host, even in a full season of life. Hospitality doesn’t have to be complicated or Pinterest-worthy. It can be as simple as setting aside one evening, serving a meal you know well, and asking God to fill the table.

If you find yourself in a busy season too, I hope this encourages you: you don’t have to choose between survival mode and hospitality. With a few simple decisions, you can do both.