Opening Yourself to Others
True hospitality crosses every barrier. The hospitable heart acknowledges that hospitality does not depend on the worthiness of the recipient. It is a gesture of grace, goodness, and generosity that must be extended to all if it is to be fully genuine. It is tempting to exclude those whom we do not like, those who have hurt us, those whose very lives have undermined or diminished our own. It feels somehow imprudent to welcome such people into the circle of hospitality. “Surely,” we tell ourselves, “they will think they have gotten by with something and may even feel they have been given permission to mistreat me again.” When we give in to this attitude, we actually close the flow of grace into our own lives. We begin to live with the same gasping breath as those we have sought to exclude.

--from the Daily Signposts
by Renée Miller