Today’s post is our monthly reflection from Team Murr, out in Bethel, California! Alison and Haydon were recently in Mexico on a mission trip, and Alison writes about the hospitality they experienced there…
On my recent mission trip to Mexico, ( like I go on them all the time…it was my first one!) we were visiting a very poor area of the town of Tecate, where the houses had no running water, so the church would come with a tanker of water and offer to fill their water vats for free (normally they have to pay for water). I didn’t dare to ask about toilet facilities!
Tecate
One man immediately invited us in to his home, he had three wobbly chairs for our team of 6, the house had walls and a door but seemed to be held together with bits of old wood, cardboard and metal. “My home is your home” he said and as the translator told us this I was in awe of this man’s great heart and warmth and how he stood there with no shame but just openness and hospitality in his heart. We prayed, prophesied and encouraged him and gave him water, then went on our way. However his openness, vulnerability and integrity stayed with me.
When people come to visit me I have to hoover, dust, tidy away kid’s stuff and make some homemade Brownies! All for the sake of being a good host and being hospitable. I hope I am doing it because I want my guests to feel loved and valued not just because of what they will think of me and my house. And then if it’s their first visit, my home is not their home, they can see the lounge and toilet and that’s it!
So what is hospitality if I felt so welcomed in this man’s home with no plate of Brownies? Perhaps under it all it is really something to do with having an open heart, letting people know all of you as you stand before them unashamed and being willing to let people into your heart again and again, without hardening it.