extravagant welcome

Don’t you just love walking into someone’s home and feeling like the welcome mat has been laid out just for you. It’s one of the feelings I keep in mind as I decorate my own home or prepare to receive guests—will the people who come through my front door know that I am happy to see them and that there will always be a place in my home and in my heart for them. Now I don’t fret--too much--about waiting hand and foot on my guests—nor do I worry—a whole lot--about whether or not my home would pass a white-glove test. What I want most of all is to practice extravagant hospitality in my life. For me, that means giving my guests my full attention and making them feel like family.

When I think about practicing extravagant hospitality in all that I do, I am mindful that each encounter we have—either with our closest friends or family—or persons we see only on occasion—gives us an opportunity to make that person feel special—make them feel like they matter to us. Mindful listening—without trying to formulate our response to them as they are talking—goes a long way in making someone feel important. The simple gift of our silence—along with a heart and a mind that is open to what they are saying to us—is often the greatest gift we bring to our conversations. Mindful speech—speaking the truth in love—being aware that our words are powerful and truth is not situational—is another way we can perfect the art of hospitality in our encounters with others. Mindful living—creating a safe enough—a large enough--space for others to be who they are—sets the needed stage for both. Extravagant hospitality also means allowing ourselves to be vulnerable enough so that others might get to know who we are as well. Jesus didn’t say “love your neighbor more than yourself”—he said “love your neighbor as yourself.”

In our lives, both in our personal lives and in our corporate life as a church family, let us practice extravagant hospitality to all of God’s children.