Evolution has designed flowers to serve as beacons of welcome, using color, scent and shape to draw in bees and other pollinators. The reproduction strategy of the flowers is inseparable from the food strategy of the bees.
How have you benefited from giving something away?
The rainbow flag not only serves as a symbol of pride for LGBTQ folks, it also serves as a symbol of welcome, a declaration to people who often find judgment in society that they will find acceptance and inclusion here.
How do you offer hospitality to those who face prejudice or rejection from the larger society?
The pineapple is a traditional symbol of hospitality. Which is sort of an interesting choice, given that the exterior of a pineapple is extremely prickly and off-putting.
When have you managed to push past a prickly exterior to find welcome within?
Any path is an invitation to a journey, an opening to possibility. But some invitations are more open than others, leading to possibilities as wide as the sea.
What path beckons you with its possibilities?
“Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness—not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free… not a subtle invitation to adopt the life style of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own.”
―Henri J.M. Nouwen
Where have you encountered a “friendly emptiness” which helped you to discover yourself?
