“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
―Emma Lazarus
What responsibility do you think a nation has to offer hospitality to those in need who are not its citizens?
“True hospitality is marked by an open response to the dignity of each and every person. Henri Nouwen has described it as receiving the stranger on his own terms, and asserts that it can be offered only by those who ‘have found the center of their lives in their own hearts’.”
―Kathleen Norris
How has finding your own center enabled you to show hospitality to others?
Take off your shoes and make yourself at home. Or, like Mr. Rogers, change into your comfiest old sweater. Or settle into the chair that feels just right.
What actions make you feel at home?
Hooray for love! Yes, sure, romantic love, but also the love of friends and family and pets. Also the love of chocolate and warm socks and a perfect cup of coffee or tea. The love of books. The love of trees. All the uncountable kinds of love.
What sort of love will you celebrate today?
We all hold the image, if not the experience, of a crowd waiting at the finish line of a race to welcome and cheer on the weary contestants as they enter the final stretch.
For what part of your life would you like a crowd to cheer you on as your goal comes in sight?
