This is a meditation on chapter 16 from our Way of Life.

Cultivate a Life of Hospitality that Flows from your Heart and Spirit

When I think about hospitality, I often automatically think of how I ought to be hospitable towards others. What things can I do to help others? How can I use my time and resources to offer something to someone else? But today I’m meditating on how I accept hospitality from others.

As I sit here on a Friday afternoon, I find myself preparing to go to dinner at someone’s home tonight. I was invited to spend the evening with friends that I am getting to know, in their space. In a city like Paris, space is at a premium. We don’t often have many people over to our homes for dinner because our living space can be a bit tight. It is a culture where inviting someone into your small space can feel a bit invasive. When I have people over, I am ever aware that my life is on display. I don’t have a dining room and a living room and a kitchen and multiple bedrooms. I have one room that serves as my dining and living rooms, office, studio, and entertaining area. No one has enough space for all of their things, so their things end up on display. Next to that, a tiny galley kitchen and a bedroom. I’m expecting that is what tonight will be like. A cosy, lived-in apartment, no bigger than needed, with little room to hide their things away.

I love having people over, regardless of the space we have to offer. It’s the intimacy of time together that I enjoy, regardless of what the space presents as. As much as I enjoy being invited into other’s spaces, I struggle to always accept their generosity. I feel like I should be doing something. Cooking, serving, helping clean up. And yet, I don’t expect that of my guests.

The love and grace of God also at times feels difficult to accept. Shouldn’t I need to do something to receive it? I know it is a gift freely given, yet how do I accept something that feels intangible at times? A dinner at a friend’s place is tangible. The conversation and time with them is active. It takes time and energy. The food eaten is physical, and sustaining, and usually – hopefully – delicious. I am able to go, accept their hospitality, thank them, and leave. Yet, how do I experience the grace and love of God when it often feels more abstract? That one is harder for me to answer. In my good moments I know to trust in God’s promises. I try to go back to scripture to remind me, and to look at the person of Jesus. I also know that spending the evening at dinner with friends is one way of receiving the hospitality, love, and grace from God and others. It is often in community where I encounter God. It is in relationships that I can enjoy the love God freely offers me.

I’m still learning how to accept hospitality from others. My parents modeled hospitality for others. I saw the work and love they put into it. Now I’m learning to put work and love into accepting hospitality from others and from our God.

Photo Credit
Paul Prins on 25 December 2025 in Paris, France.