The Blessing of Hospitality

Last updated on: October 1, 2011 at 2:01 pm by Karen Spears Zacharias

The Blessing of Hospitality 2011-10-01T14:01:17+00:00 Karen Spears Zacharias

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I’m home.

As in I’m back in Oregon following a three-week, gazillion mile trip through the Southeast.

They say a rolling stone gathers momentum — that’s certainly true in my case. For the first time everhah, I wasn’t even able to keep up with the blogging while traveling. Either I’m not as young as I once was or I’m not as skilled as my younger self was. Either way, I feel a bit like I went down the rabbit hole.

I have missed you all.

But I enjoyed seeing those of you that I did get to see.

I am blessed to be surrounded by a host of angels who practice hospitality. I was welcomed into homes in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, & Mississippi. I was wined. I was dined. I was invited to make myself at home. Many of those who so generously opened their homes to me have done it on a repeat basis.

Some I’ve known since childhood. Some I only feel as though I’ve known them my entire life. Each one has blessed me in untold ways. Some of you reading this blog are those people.

Hospitality is a spiritual practice. The very act of hospitality requires caring for others beyond one’s own personal comfort. Scripture urges us to practice hospitality.

I don’t deserve all the hospitality I’ve been granted over the years but I can tell you that I am so very thankful for it.

For me, it’s not just about having a bed free from fleas, though I appreciate that more than you can know, but it’s about having someone to swap stories with at the end of the day, or someone to sit and read the paper with over a cup of coffee in the morning.

I’m reminded of a quote by a man I look forward to sharing coffee with one day: Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival … C. S. Lewis.

If one’s net worth was measured by the hospitality extended to them, I’d be at the top of Fortune 500’s wealthiest list.

What’s the most hospitable thing someone had done for you lately? Or that you have done for others?

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