Have you ever had one of those weeks that just zoom by and it is over before you realize? That was last week for me and it wasn’t until Friday that I remembered that I forgot to write my blog post! So I apologize to those of you who follow me as I definitely dropped the ball.
But…the good news is: I’m baaack!
So, my oldest son just moved to Dallas. I didn’t get to see him often since he and his girlfriend lived in Miami and now unfortunately I will see him less often. However, I am very happy for both of them as this is a good move and I believe, if the initial conversations bear fruit, that they will both be very happy on this new adventure. So I wish them all the best and now I have a new travel destination.
I have found it interesting talking with my son after his arrival in his new home state. You see the biggest thing my son has commented to me about is how friendly Texans are. Everywhere he goes, when people realize he is new to the area, they welcome him and share all manner of good information about the area they will now call home. All of these strangers have given my son tips on great restaurants as well as places to see and things to do. As a Mom, I have to be honest, I am so very grateful to each and every Texan who has been welcoming to my son as he and his girlfriend move into an area neither have lived before. They are all making a stressful situation less stressful and in some ways even enjoyable, all because these strangers have chosen to show hospitality to another stranger.
Hospitality! What a concept! Being nice for the sake of being nice toward someone you may or may not know. Saying hello, opening a door, offering a smile, giving directions, sharing a ride, carrying packages, these and countless other simple acts of kindness are all things we can do to show hospitality and make our world just a little more livable, a little less stressful, and maybe even a little more hospitable.
After our most recent conversation, as I had listened yet again to how friendly and nice Texans are, I began to think about Biblical hospitality and how important it was during that era in history. In fact, hospitality was crucial to a traveler’s survival in the difficult terrain of the Ancient Near East and what we now call the Holy Land. In order to make it to your destination, you depended on the hospitality of strangers to take you in and feed you so you could begin your journey the following morning, rested and ready to travel on. While we may not need to take travelers into our homes to shelter and feed, we can offer respite to a weary world when we are simply nice to those around us. It really doesn’t take that much to smile, to say a kind word, or any other offer of help or genuine kindness and yet those simple things we do, sometimes without thinking, can offer hope to someone who is having a bad day, who just received some bad news, who is struggling financially or is in a relationship that is not going well. Or maybe they are having just one of those days where nothing seems to go right. A day when it really did not pay to get out of bed and then out of the blue… someone offers hospitality and their day just got a little brighter.
Offering hospitality doesn’t cost a dime. It might cost you a few seconds here and there. It could mean you give up an afternoon. But the thing is no matter how busy our lives become, and I believe they have become too busy but that is a post for another day….we can always find the time to offer a form of hospitality to someone.
So I would like to challenge each of you to try and be like the Texans my son has encountered. Take the time to offer hospitality to someone every day. Who knows, maybe if everyone did this, our world might just become hospitable.
Peace,
Beth
Beth's Blog 