I’ve been thinking about being welcoming.
It is harder than it looks. I get wrapped up in my own situation, my own feelings. Even when I am not trying to be unfriendly, I can come across as aloof. Or distant.
Is that welcoming?
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I am at work in the garden. Bent over, sweat dripping. A traveler appears. The trowel in my hand feels more urgent than the greeting My eyes stay on the soil.
The visitor passes, unmet. Only later do I wonder what might have happened if I had looked up.
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I want to complete the task. To honor the work. Yet I do not want to shut my heart.
How can I remain welcoming even when my hands are full? How do I open without losing what I hold?
Maybe the answer is not in the hands at all, but in the face. In the eyes. I can look about, even while engaged.
In the momentary pause that costs me nothing, I may give another everything.
– from the mountain
Consider:
How can I open up to more people today?
Reading:
“Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend.” — Henri J. M. Nouwen
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“The great man is he who makes every man feel small. But the truly great man is he who makes every man feel great.” — G.K. Chesterton
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“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” — Hebrews 13:2 (KJV)
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