I know we just finished the Christmas season. Houses were cleaned. Decorated. Food was bought and prepped. Families gathered. Church services were (maybe) attended.
In Botswana Christmas looked different. We were greeted as extended family by a family of church members. We found the houses as is. A single room. Simply kept. Bed made every morning. Swept every day from the sand and bugs that crawled their way in. No indoor plumbing available water was carried in from the well 7 times a day to accommodate for the extra bodies. This water being used for cooking, washing dishes, bathing and drinking. Th family giving up a table in their home for this group of Americans to put their food. Let us come in and out at all hours. Let us use their fire to cook and hot water to shower or cook with. The water we did not help retrieve. Use their power we did not pay for. We sat in chairs we did not bring with us but were always offered to us even at the expense of someone already sitting in it. We showered behind sticks built in a circle enclosed by a single door, the ceiling open, exposed to the sky. A structure that did not exist the week before but was built for our arrival. Whenever something was asked of them they dropped whatever they were previously doing to help give us direction. Every question returned with a genuine smile. On top of my team of 14 there was the Pastors family of 5 and not to mention the 100+ people coming from the other branch churches. I saw one woman organize meals for all these people. I saw her up before I was, always in constant motion. Boiling hot water for coffee. Rolling dough into “fat cakes” an African fried dough ball eaten for meals. Plates after plates would leave the tiny kitchen home of just two fires. Big enough for 4 people comfortably if you could withstand the heat and smoke.
Most days I’d watch her. Offer to help where we could, most of the time being turned away saying she was “okay.” One day she helped us carry water. She was concerned it’d be too heavy. I said no we were strong as I did my best to convince her by flexing. We walked to the well. She offered us her scarf to protect our head. We each only made it roughly 1 minute with balancing it on our head with the help of our arms. The rest of the way I had to carry it in my arms. 5 gallons. 10 minute walk. Doesn’t sound too difficult, except when you then factor in the sand you’re walking through also and the slosh of the water soaking through your clothes. She never asked us again for help with the water.
The morning we left we shared a cake with their family. We prayed over her and the Pastor of the local church. We thanked her for her hospitality. A gift from the Holy Spirit. One that all week had reflected God’s love and patience. After we prayed she hugged us all with tears in her eyes.
Simpyet hospitality. She set the standards higher than they were before. She set an expectation of how I want to show hospitality to others. She did not try to impress us with flashing lights, fancy foods or coffee drinks. She did not ask us to bring our own food or clean up after ourselves. When I was in Ethiopia last year it was said to me by a pastor that he was a little intimidated to host a team from America. That he expected our standards to be much higher than what he and his family had to offer.
I think most of us do similar things. We are afraid that what we have is not enough for others expectations. That others will judge us. Hospitality is not what YOU have to offer but what GOD has to offer through you and it’s about practicing servant hood. Loving others through Christ. How can we love others through our kindness, conversations, sacrifices of our time and any resources. The Bible says, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.“ Philippians 2:3 | NLT
If you say you don’t have enough isn’t that devaluing what God has already blessed you with? It’s not about what you have but how you submit what you have. Submit and trust that God can use you as a servant to bless others. With much or little. In a messy house or a clean one. With an hour or ten minutes. I was blessed without the Christmas lights, without a tree, without hot chocolate. God blessed me through the time spent in laughter and company with compassionate hearts. I think we all have a little bit of that to go around. It’s easy to welcome people in and plop them in front of the TV for a few hours of entertainment but what does it actually look like to invest? To listen? To laugh?
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
