Oh my gosh! Hosting is messy!

No matter how much we plan and scheme to provide warm welcome, a wild card is bound to show up. Each guest, the one we know and the new ones we are meeting for the first time, show up with all the stories of their lives coming along with them.

No matter how much we prepare, we simply have little clue as to how they will experience us and our spaces in this moment.

Would we want it any other way? Isn’t the excitement our getting to greet and to get to know this wide spectrum of humanity we have offered to welcome to our doors? Of course it can be intimidating on some level. I totally understand this! But if we are serious, this is part of the reason we have decided to be a host in the first place - to expand our sense of hospitality, to open our hearts to the wider humanity.

I advocate that we recognize our guests as potential friends who may enrich our lives. I am advocating that we dial down our fears and suspicions enough to see the wonder of others, and, yes, to admit that no matter how much we want to nail down the perfect place and experience, hosting is a messy conversation that just might be worth celebrating. Thank you for being a host!