My earliest memories of visiting my dad at work were walking past the morgue at Holston Valley Hospital. I’m not being morbid. His office was in the second sub-basement. If you got off the elevators and went left, you hit the morgue. If you went right, you hit my dad’s office. It wasn’t exactly the most hospitable place, but he was the Internal Auditor so…I suppose that was to be expected. Never one to let circumstances keep him down, he made up for it in two ways. First, he always had full size chocolate bars in his desk drawer. These were no Hershey’s mind you, but the bonafide World’s Finest Chocolate (with almonds) from the previous year’s school fundraiser. I loved those chocolate bars. Second, he was relentlessly positive. Every day he told everyone he met to, “Make a great day!” When asked how he was, he unfailingly responded, “Every day’s an adventure!”
Years later, when I was older and my dad was sick, I learned this wasn’t always the case. He moved a lot for my grandfather’s job when he was young. He got into a few fights at school and struggled to fit in. Today, I would say he probably didn’t feel like he had a place where he belonged. So he made it his mission to ensure the people around him did. Whether at home or in the community or in the ironically inhospitable hospital office, he made sure to welcome people. No one met my dad and left wondering if they mattered or had value.
In his book, The Divine Commodity, Skye Jethani writes, “The English word hospitality originates from the same Latin root as the word hospital. A hospital is literally a ‘home for strangers.’ Of course, it has come to mean a place of healing. There is a link between being welcome and being healed.”
Our country is fractured and the mood is fractious. And there is a valuable lesson here for all of us. The way to heal the brokenness and mend the mindsets in our nation isn’t based on the outcome of an election. As important and valuable as it may be, your vote won’t heal your neighbor’s heart (or your own for that matter). But real hospitality…that just might do it.
There is this wonderful line in the biblical book of Hebrews, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2)
We must remember to show hospitality because it’s easy to forget that small gestures, kind words, and making others feel welcome has an outsized impact on their life. Being welcomed means being healed.
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This piece was originally published in the Kingsport Times News in November 2024.
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