Hospitality

By: Leah Shroeder

On October 23, 2006 I was very pregnant with my second child: feeling slightly overwhelmed, longing for a special time with my daughter, Sophie, and, as it happens, celebrating my birthday. My hubby had asked that morning on his way out the door to work what I would be doing until he got home, and I responded that I didn’t have any plans except to try to do something special with Sophie. By mid-morning my almost-two-year-old and I were ready to set up a little tea party on the back patio. I brought out an end table and tablecloth. Unknown to me, as I made my next trip into the house for the tea Sophie was also busily preparing her special touch on our table; she picked marigold petals from the patio planter and sprinkled them all around the table as a surprise for me. When I walked back outside I was astonished that my daughter was already grasping the concept of hospitality. I rushed back into the house with a tear in my eye and grabbed my camera so that I could capture this special moment, but even if I had not gotten a picture, this was a moment I would not have forgotten. Sophie had reached out to me as her mommy and practiced hospitality.

Did you know that God calls each of us to be hospitable? “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling” (1Peter4:9). He doesn’t just ask us to be hospitable but He asks us to do it without complaint as an expression of love to those around us. Showing hospitality is an expression of love because when we show hospitality we make ourselves vulnerable; vulnerable to the criticism of others, vulnerable to the possibility of damage to or even just dirtying of our things, and most of all we risk opening our hearts and lives to people who could possibly hurt us. There is risk involved, and it is real but God asks us to do it because He knows how important human relationships are for our growth and for His glory.

Many people excuse a lack of hospitality in their lives as a function of too little time, money, or space. But, God does not ask us to do things that He knows are impossible for us, and while it may be logistically impossible to host a dinner party or even just invite a family into one’s home for dinner, it is always possible to have an attitude of hospitality. An attitude such as this thinks, “I could invite the Johnson’s to meet us at the park for a picnic,” or “I’ll get up early and meet Kathy at the 5a.m. gym class she takes so that we could connect and maybe even go out for coffee afterward.” An attitude of hospitality focuses not on limitations, but rather on possibilities and opportunities. Each of us has the potential to tap into those resources; maybe it will take some time to rearrange priorities but it is truly worth the sacrifice to communicate to someone that they are valuable enough to open up your heart and even your home.

Most of us have watched the Disney movie, Ratatouille, about the mouse that longs to cook and is inspired by the famous French chef Gustav whose motto is “Anyone can Cook”. Well, when it comes to being hospitable the very same thing applies; “Anyone can Practice Hospitality” even a little girl of less than two-years-old.

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