Being Gracious Goes a Long Way

It is that wonderful time of year when strangers share their holiday plans and grocery carts over flow with goods. Today, a woman shared with me that she had been 4 times this week to the same store to grocery shop mainly for a holiday meal.

The aisles are packed with goodies to share. People are in an outreach mode. For years my husband and I hosted a Christmas tea and he baked wonderful cookies and our table overflowed with not only food but old and new neighbours.

We made a special effort to invite people who were new.

Now, since our move, we are new and especially at the holidays we can feel a bit out of the loop, but yesterday, a neighbor invited us to join her family and extended family and friends. It will be a large holiday party and we will be part of the celebration.

I can tell you being a stranger to Idaho that this has had a big impact on me. Even if we could not have gone for some reason the glow of being included would have counted.

We are told in the Holy Bible. DO NOT FORGET TO ENTERTAIN STRANGERS.

May we not be so insular as to forget the newcomers, the old, the lonely, and the hurting for the sake of THE ONE who did not forget to come for us!