Five Senses of Hospitality with Guest Janelle Nehrenz
Ok, who else gained weight yesterday just scrolling through the delicious recipes listed? We could write a cyber cookbook!
If you haven’t left one yet, you still can. And remember, you may comment on all of the post until Easter. Then, all winners will be announced the day after. :-)
And speaking of cooking….today’s guest does a lot of that. From comfy in the kitchen, meet my new friend and culinary expert Janelle Nehrenz!
Janelle Nehrenz is a Christian wife and mom of 3 young children. She has a meal ministry, co-leads a Summer bible study, and happily stays busy volunteering at church and her children’s school. Her spiritual gifts are a mix of “hospitality and evangelism” and she shares all about it on her blog Comfy in the Kitchen.
From Janelle’s heart:
Preparing your home for guests is a huge blessing..to you, your guests, and to the Lord.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
What a great reminder of how important it is to open up our homes to others. Hospitality creates an opportunity to love others well all in the name of the Lord-A Lord who has given us a home to entertain in, food to prepare, friends and family who want to be with us, and the energy to serve others! It can also be the very foundation for fellowship, building bonds, memories, and relationships.
To some, opening up your home may be overwhelming…but please do not fret! If you tune into your guests “5 senses” you will be sure to be a “hostess with the mostess” and guests will feel very much at home. There is no doubt our loving God gave us these senses to bless us and to bless others…
How to touch on all of the “5 senses of hospitality” for your beloved guests.
The Five Senses:
- Hearing
- Sight
- Touch
- Smell
- Taste
Hearing: Play soft background music and turn dishwashers and washer/driers off before company arrives. If you think about it, how does it make you feel when you walk into a completely silent home? A home with a very loud TV? How about a home where the laundry and dishwasher is on? It’s awfully hard to have a conversation when there is too much background noise. In turn, it can also be “uncomfortable” if it is stark quite. Preparing your home’s “noise level” is a great way to think about your guests before they arrive.
Sight: Tidy up, vacuum, and wipe counter tops/floors before guests arrive. This will give them a nice, clean, and relaxing environment. Think of where your guests will travel through your home. Add a welcoming wreath to your front door, a few seasonal decorations, flowers, and make sure the guest bathroom is clean with fresh towels. Give an atmosphere of “loving well”.
Touch: Greet your guests! A hug, kiss on the cheek, handshake- whatever you feel comfortable with, but please make contact with them! Take their coats and walk them into the room you’d like to gather in…put your arm around them and make them feel at home. You are happy they are there and they took the time to visit you! What better gift is the gift of time? Welcome it.
Smell: Ahhhh….this is such an important one for me. When guests first walk into your home they are greeted by the smell!!! Food baking/cooking is definitely a smell everyone loves. But, that isn’t all! Open some windows for fresh air (weather permitting) and light a few candles for a special touch. I typically have candles lit in the foyer, living room, kitchen, and guest bath. If you have throw pillows/blankets on your couch, throw them in the wash before guests arrive so they smell fresh. I also love the smell of “Murphy’s Oil Soap”- I make sure to wipe my first floor floors down before company comes over simply for the smell!
Taste: Prepare a delicious appetizer, meal, and/ or dessert for your guests. If you are having guests over for dessert, put your dish in the oven so it will be finished 20 mins after guests arrive that way you can serve it piping hot out of the oven. Make a fresh pot of coffee. Casually place food and drinks in front of your guests-most people if asked, “Would you like something to drink” reply, “I am ok for now, thank you” . But if a pitcher of lemonade is in front of them with an empty glass, they are more willing to make themselves at home. Lay out napkins, silverware, and plates ahead of time so you can relax with your guests.
As you see, tuning into the 5 senses of your guests tackles all of the important steps it takes to love others well in your home! What a blessing it is to know others want to learn more about hospitality…may you light many candles and share much banana bread with those you love!
Now for the question and the giveaway:
It includes:
~ A funky flash drive (to save some great recipes from Janelle’s site?)
~ Some recipe cards
~ A Mint-Dark Chocolate Ghiradelli bar
~ A $10 Target card to buy a candle for your sense of smell to enjoy:-)
Just leave us a comment telling us which of the five senses of hospitality to which you usually pay most attention. Or, which one hadn’t you thought about before?
REMEMBER: We are also interacting over at Karen Ehman’s Book Studies on Facebook. Click here to “like” the page & join us.
For me it is a toss up between sight and sound. I love beauty,
the kind that brings peace and pleasing sounds (whether it be inspiring ministry music or what I call God’s music, nature)
I mostly think about sight. I run around and clean as best I can when I am in a hurry. I rarely think about sounds and even snickered a little when I read this. I recently had my brother over for a visit and he kept looking around. At one point he asked me if it was raining because he was hearing water. I realized that the dishwasher was going and it was a huge distraction for him.
I, like most others have said, seem to put most thought into sight, smell, & taste. I need to think more about hearing and touch. Thanks for the reminder!
A welcoming touch is one I never really considered much of a high priority, until my guest are leaving at the end of the visit… .I always think about a clean environment & smell goods with candles or scents that are welcoming, but love the idea of going the extra level to really appreciate the guest who has taken time to come visit is really something to be celebrated more in my home as I welcome them in and really let them know how much they are appreciated and wanted.
I think the sense I never gave much thought to was hearing. I love the ideas about monitoring the machines in the house so they won’t be on when guests arrive. I will make an effort to have something appropriate to listen to. Thanks so much for the idea.
I am a smell person. I love the smell of something yummy cooking. I am also a terrible housekeeper w/ 3 kids and 2 dogs. After reading some of the comments, I will need to pay more attention to my living space before opening my home.
Thanks so much for walking us through the 5 five senses…I never thought much about the sound and touch aspects! Next time I have a guest you can be sure that I will pay special attention to those two senses.
I love the concept of using the five senses for our guests. A new way to look at things
Thank you for the reminder to pay attention to all five senses. Hearing I do automatically without thought. Smell, touch, and taste are all important to me. My hardest issue is sight because though my house is clean it is usually cluttered. I read, I think here on an earlier post, to enter your home as your guest with fresh eyes to see what they see, and that is helping me, but it is still an obstacle.
I’ve really never thought about “touch”. My family aren’t really huggers so I didn’t realize how important touch could be. And that’s an easy one to learn!
Loved this! I typically pay most attention to sight and smell though sound is pretty close to the top of the list. I love to come into a place with candles glowing and soft music playing which is also what I try to do for my guests too. It says welcome…whether the smell is the candle, the coffee, or something nice baking!
Definitely sight and smell and music if is evening. I was always afraid of candles with my children so I bought the candle warmers.
I had never really thought about sound, I see what you mean and will definitely make it a point to have soft music playing the in the background now! Thanks for making this easy with the five senses so I can remember!
Never considered “touch” but this reminded me of when I’ve been on the receiving end of touch when being a guest (a simple touch on the back as you enter/exit). It’s a very great idea!
I pay attention to smell. I want my home to be clean and smell fresh but not like a bottle of cleanser which is why I clean the day before guests arrive. I try to have something baking in the oven when they enter my home. The smell of freshly baked bread or a pie to me are very welcoming.
I notice the smell…love the smell of something homemade cooking.
My hospitality is basically limited to Sunday lunch so usually the house is clean, there is food to eat and smell and occasionally music in the background. But my hard one is touch since that doesn’t come easy for me. I’m usually finishing up food prep when guests arrive and I greet them with words but I am definitely going to be more aware of being more welcoming with some kind of touch. Thanks for the reminder!
I never thought about having the dishwasher on could be a distraction. Great idea! Candles are my go-to sense. It could be 80 degrees outside & 11am & I’d still have a candle lit.
Smell isn’t one I think of often . . . however, I did when we had a dog! I think taste is #1 for me since the first thing I do when I know I’ll be having company is to figure out the menu, keeping it simple, but nice. #2 would be sight – I tidy up, making sure things are comfortable, but not perfect starting a day or two ahead. I always try to have some sort of centerpiece on my table, too, using things that either I have on hand or from nature. The last centerpiece I did was purchasing a $5 flowering plant and placing it inside the opening of a ceramic pitcher I had – so simple, but elegant! #3 for me is hearing – I love to have the satellite radio on an easy to listen to station like “Coffee House”, just as background music – not to interfere with conversation. If I go someplace and there’s no background music, it seems awkward. Anyway, thanks for the reminder that God wants us to open our homes to others, to show the love of the Lord to them I need to do it more often – even spontaneously!
I pay most attention to sight, making sure everything is tidy before guests arrive.
I have always turned the tv off when company arrives. And when we plan ahead we have several instrumental cd’s we like to play when we entertain. I have always been a fan of candles and now the scentsy pots. I like the tip of setting the drink out, instead of asking
“Can I get you something to drink?”
I have always turned the tv off when company arrives. When I plan ahead, we have some instrumental cd’s we like to play when we entertain. And I have always been a fan of candles and now the scentsy pots. I love the tip about setting out the drinks, instead of asking “can I get you something to drink?”
Well, I have a difficult time picking my favorite! I grew up with a great example of hospitalitiy….in a church with lots of farming families when Sundays were sacred….with the exception of caring for the animals….so we were almost always hosting a sunday meal or going to someone elses place. We were poor in finances, but rich in blessing of making nothing seem like something special…bringing the outdoors inside was big…it’s amazing how replicating God’s creation or simple bring pieces of it inside adds beauty to the home. Use pansie blooms or nasturtiums on desserts, kale leaves as a base garnish, fashion an egg tree out of collected falled branches, tiny vases or jars with fresh flowers (they fit just about anywhere even bathrooms) interesting pinecones, fashion nests (real ones can carry bugs/fungus) of vines/grasses and paint some little pebbles to replicate some real speckled eggs, collect moss clumps to add some little green areas….
I never thought about touch before, but I will from now on.
I always think about the hearing part, with soft favorite music on….