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On hospitality
For a long time I have avoided inviting people over. When I was in college, I lived out of town, which meant people couldn't possibly want to drive out to the islands. When I came back to Brazil I lived with my dad for a year, which meant it wasn't my house to share. When my husband and I moved into an apartment, it was quite small. Now we live in a lovely house, but our three dogs always make us rethink invitations.
I've often attended events at my friends homes and thought If only my house was this big, if only I had this amount of sitting furniture, if only I lived in a central location like they do.
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
This past Saturday I attended my church women's brunch. The house indeed was big, beautiful and lovely. But I noticed that for most of the time, we were all squished. We gathered as we arrived, remaining in a central circle. We piled around the buffet table literally knocking each other and nearly stepping over the wandering dogs. We pulled our chairs, stools and benches quite close to each other in order to hear the speakers.
We hugged. We talked. We listened. We loved.
And that is when I realised what hospitality really is about. The consciousness that people are not coming to judge your furniture, cleanliness or square footage. They come for you.
For more on hospitality, I suggest you hop onto life in grace, who is posting all 31 days on the subject.
