Not a lesson on etiquette

Question:

I'm curious. Do you know what RSVP means?

Answer:

RSVP comes from the French expression "répondez s'il vous plaît", meaning "please respond".

Question:

So what do I do with an RSVP?

Answer:

If RSVP is written on an invitation it means the invited guest must tell the host whether or not they plan to attend the party. It does not mean to respond only if you're coming, and it does not mean respond only if you're not coming (the expression "regrets only" is reserved for that instance). It means the host needs a definite head count for the planned event, and needs it by the date specified on the invitation.

All this leads to the thicker envelopes we get in our mail this month. . . .

It is that time of year when invitations arrive for weddings. . . . .

The date has been chosen,

the celebration has been prepared for with much care

by the hosts.

We are invited to attend

and our part is to reply

using the card enclosed in the invitation to indicate our response to the invitation.

In the past few decades I've both sent and received invitations by mail, by email, by phone, and now by text for wedding showers, weddings, graduations, baby showers, home warmings, charity fundraisers, etc.

Not all required a formal response, but for those that ask for one I reply as soon as I can confirm our availability. I do so for I know the hosts truly do need our reply to prepare a place of us at the special occasion they have planned.

Sadly, I witness that few people practice the gracious art of etiquette. . . . particularly in the area of responding to invitations. It matters not your age or upbringing. We don't give a timely response much thought until we host something, then we expect our invitations to produce prompt responses for the desired accurate count. When we receive few replies, we become upset, angry, and frustrated at the few replies.

But when our event is over, we return to our practice of neglecting to replying to invitations we receive following our event, with nary a thought. Oh, my! We are focused so very much on me, mine, and ours to the extreme and don't recognize it.

When will we learn to care for others more than ourselves?

It takes a change of our heart. And this is not a new problem!

Now,

put yourself in the place of our heavenly Father.

He has a truly major wedding feast planned

. . . Martha Stewart could not possibly out do this event of all events.

He knows the date it will be held, though we won't until that day

He has been making plans for eons!

and

He has invited us to join Him.

and He is waiting for our response.

1.

Have you replied to His invitation?

2.

Are you preparing to attend?

Matthew 22: 1-14 tells the story.

Take some time today, read it,

meditate upon it, consider THE invitation.

And make a reply.

If you say 'yes!'

Get ready. . . every day, live today preparing for THE day.

Learn about that in His Word.

Truth For Life

"Again he sent out other slaves saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."'

Matthew 22:4