Given To Hospitality

Given to Hospitality

Do you consider yourself to be a hospitable person? Webster states hospitable means: "offering a pleasant or sustaining environment." How do we do that? When we answer the phone, we can offer the caller a pleasant or sustaining environment. When I call my friend Lauren, I expect to hear her cheery voice say, "Greetings!" Now that is a welcome sound. My husband recently made a call to another time zone and woke someone up. A very sleepy "h-e-l-l-o," did not convey the promise of a pleasant or sustaining environment.

Recently Glen and I were walking through an Amish quilt shop. The store clerk heard me talking about my own quilting in comparison to the beautiful work I was looking at. The clerk started a very generic conversation with me about quilting. I told her about the quilts I have seen made by those who have lost a child; quilts with picture quilt blocks. Unknowingly I had created a promise of a pleasant or sustaining environment where the clerk could ask, "Have you lost a child?" I answered, "Yes, three sons." As I heard her gasp and utter an "Oh, I'm so sorry," I felt free to ask, "Have you lost a child?" She answered, "Yes, two."

Here we were. Two women living totally opposite lifestyles, yet we could hug each other as we parted. I left her with a copy of "Roses In December" and my business card. She gave me her address as she told me about the Circle Letter (chain letter) she had started several years ago. The letter travels within a circle of twelve bereaved mothers. Along with instant acceptance, we had offered a pleasant or sustaining environment to each other.

"Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!" (Hebrews 13:2 TLB)

Marilyn Heavilin is a speaker, author and grief counselor. She and her husband, Glen, volunteer at America's KESWICK each year, and will be returning in March 2009