Hospitality

This past weekend we, the missionaries, went to St. Monica's in Duluth, GA for a Theology on the Body conference with Christopher West (it was amazing, and I highly recommend to all to read about this great teaching, you can go to www.tobinstitute.org for info, but more about that, hopefully, later). The people organizing the event were gracious enough to give us free tickets and found us places to stay so that we could attend. This beautiful woman named Lisa took us girls into her home and made us feel more welcome than we could have ever imagined. Not knowing any of us, and having no connections with Covecrest, she welcomed four strangers into her home, and didn't just give us a bed, she had laid out baskets of snacks and toiletries. She was incredibly kind, what a testament to her faith. She was a witness to all of us, who sometimes struggle with taking people into our new home, that giving and welcoming should and can be done without reservation, and even more than that, with joy.

I am also constantly amazed by the hospitality of my fellow missionaries, not only in their ability to welcome the groups that come up for retreats, but also in the way that they welcome each other (and me) into their lives and hearts. When we were driving back from the conference, Reggie and Chris were talking, and Chris just stopped Reggie and said, "listen, I sometimes feel like you feel as though you have to prove yourself, like you have to defend yourself, and I want you to know that you don't. Nothing that you can say or do is going to make me love you or listen to you any more or less."How awesome is that! The acceptance and validation Chris gave Reggie in that simple sentence, said with such sincerity, is, I think, something that we all want to and need to hear from those in our life. And hospitality is at the heart of it. Chris is willing to let Reggie, flaws and past and baggage and all, into his heart fully, with joy, and without reservation.