When I was five or six years old, I had a neighbor named Mrs. Wonders who lived across the street from me. Mrs. Wonders, who was in her sixties at the time, invited me to visit her any day, any time. She kept a candy dish on the end table closest to the door and so our visits together always began with a sweet treat. After the treat, she would usher me into the kitchen where I would sit on a stool and talk and talk. I remember a few stories she told me about her school days but most of what we talked about is forgotten. The most important thing about our visits is that Mrs. Wonders made me feel welcomed, loved, and special. She made me feel like she looked forward to our visits as much as I did.
I imagine Mrs. Wonders never knew how significant our visits were to me, significant enough that I am writing about them over fifty years later. At home, I was consistently criticized and informed of the many ways that I was a disappointment, so it was lovely to be welcomed as a delight just for being who I was with no expectations that I change or become better. When you don’t feel you are welcomed in the world, words of invitation are honey for the soul. Because the self-doubt I experienced throughout my childhood wove its way into the fabric of my being, I am sensitive to the many invitations in the Bible.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God invites us,
All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, buy grain and eat; Come, buy grain without money, wine and milk without cost!
Isaiah 55:1
In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus invites us,
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.
Mattew 11:28
These invitations meet us where we are, thirsty, poor, tired, and burdened, and offer us grain, wine, milk and rest. We might be tempted to think that we have to rise above our wounds and weaknesses in order to accept God’s invitation but the good news is that God comes to us, to the places in us that are most in need of healing, most in need of welcome. All we are asked to do is to open our hearts and receive.
John’s gospel tells us that when the first disciples of Jesus ask him where he is staying, he offers a simple invitation,
Come, and you will see.
John 1:39
Jesus invites us to stay with him where he is staying. We mistakenly think that this is someplace remote from us, but scripture tells us that God’s love has been poured into our hearts and we find our way to God by living in and through this love. Throughout John’s gospel coming to Jesus and seeing Jesus with perspective are expressions of faith. It turns out that my life-long struggle to experience self-worth is simultaneously my life-long journey of faith.
Mrs. Wonders gave me my earliest experience of being warmly welcomed as a delight for just being myself. I remember others who offered me this same kind of hospitality at various times in my life. These neighbors, friends, and co-workers were carriers of God’s grace in my life. Small acts of welcoming might be very significant in the lives of the people we meet. We don’t always know how powerful a gesture of warm welcome is because we don’t always know the cold and struggle that color another person’s life. We all have the power to comfort and heal the people who are near to us by simply welcoming them, sharing warm friendship, and finding delight in their presence.
