I finished the second round of treatments this week. While I still have symptoms, I can feel them lessening. I thank God that the treatments have gone well and without any side effects. I have a great nurse who comes to the house to administer them and stays for the few hours that the treatment takes — even though it makes me drowsy and I end up falling asleep. I’m also thankful for our insurance company who is picking up a huge portion of what these treatments cost. It’s easy to say they’re only doing what they’re obligated to do so it may sound odd to say, but most of the time I only hear people complain about their insurance companies. I want to give credit where it’s due.
Also, it’s now been a week since we put our newest friend back on her bus so she could go home. We had a nine year old girl visit with us for two weeks. She lives in the Bronx and was a part of a program called the Fresh Air Fund. It was a great experience for our family, and I believe it was for her as well. Star formed a new friendship with someone whom she would have never had the opportunity to meet otherwise, and our family was able to share the love of God by welcoming someone new into our lives.
We learned from her, and we taught her some things without even realizing it. One day near the end of her visit Amariah was throwing away some garbage and said, “I know what it means to pitch something now.” We looked at each other never realizing that telling someone to “pitch” something was a localized expression. I think it’s fun to become aware of the everyday things that make us unique.
We committed in March to open our house to someone we had never met for two weeks in July. We had no idea that my health was going to nosedive just two weeks later. As July grew closer, and my health was still in doubt, there were concerns on how I was going to feel and what level of participation I could bring to the experience. But we never once questioned whether or not we were going to follow through with our invitation to this girl from New York City, that we had never met, to live in our home for two weeks.
By the end of the two week visit Star felt like she had a new sister, and Brenda and I felt like we had a new daughter. All of us had tears in our eyes as we watched Amariah climb the steps onto the bus headed back home.
In the Bible God told the Israelites to treat the stranger among them as if they were just part of the family. To love the stranger as they love themselves because they were once strangers in another land and know what it feels like to be excluded. Hospitality to a stranger requires something of you. It requires your effort, your energy, and forethought. It’s something that can be scary and even a little risky depending on where your comfort zone is.
But God calls you to go beyond treating strangers well and show love to them as you love yourself. Would you ever look in the mirror and say that you looked too weird to say hello? Would you ever stop in your tracks to create distance so you weren’t too close to yourself?
No one does this perfectly. We all have times where our arms are folded across our chest rather than extended wide anxious to give a hug. But that’s the thing about desiring to love as God loves — when you do it, you will have experiences that leave you feeling more fully alive. You are more complete, and each day is more eventful and fun when you love as God loves.