Hospitality Hospitality is something that we take for granite in our society.
Growing up as a child my home was located near a migrant worker housing facility.
Every summer migrant workers would move in to pick tomatoes.
They would stay for the summer to work.
Their children would start school then they would leave.
Every year I got to have new friends!
They would become my playmates for the summer.
My parents allowed me to invite them in to play.
They would give the children cookies and candy.
They always allowed me to invit them to go to Church with us.
I would ask my parents why don't they ever invite me to their home?
I remember when I was finally ivited in to one of their temporary homes!
I was astonished at how much I owned and how little they had.
The place was a 1 bedroom facility and the whole family lived there.
I learned that the farmer provided dormitory housing and that is where the single adults
and teenagers would stay.
In the family dwellings the parents would have a bedroom
and
the children all slept on the floor in the living area.
I remember being astonished to learn that they all shared a common bathroom facility...
One thing I do recall is when it came time to eat they all set down together
and
everyone shared what they had.
The Mexican polka music could be heard all the way to where I lived.
(which was about a 1/4th of a mile down the road)
Some times the parties would go until the wee hours of the morning especially on the weekends.
I remember lying in my bed with the windows open listening to the lively music.
I would hear laughing of the men's voices as they told a joke
or
made fun of something that had happened earlier in the day.
The women would be chattering of in a language I couldn't understand
as
they cleaned up the tables and watched the children.
The children would be running and squealing as they played tag or hid-and-go-seek.
I remember thinking why are they so happy?
They have so little?
It could have been the alcohol because they did enjoy drinking.
Was it the music?
How about the dancing?
As I get older and I think about those days.
Why were they so happy?
I think I have come to the following conclusion.
No one had to pretend to be someone they were not.
They were all on the same journey!
Traveling from town to town harvesting crops so they could make enough money to live.
I think they had found something that we are all looking for.
Happiness...
Happiness can't found in the stuff that we have or the bottom of an empty aclcohol bottle.
It can only found in the shared life with other people...
Even though life was tough,
I think they were happy just because they were together.
When Creating this picture "Life together" was what I was trying to capture...
Side note since I am a pastor also:
I think this is something that we miss when we gather together on Sunday Morning to do CHURCH.
(I don't believe we do church the people are the church)
It isn't about the songs we sing or the sermon we hear.
It is about the gathering together of a group of people
who have choosen to be on the same journey together.
To activly be involved int the same mission as Jesus and the Disciples.
When the week has ended and "Life has been Tough"
there can be real joy and happiness when we gather because we are in this together.
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