Hospitality feels very dramatic when it is provided by an elf or dwarf, but if you think about it, we show hospitality through provision all the time. Parents will bring snacks for their child's school, we welcome people into our homes for a meal or desert, and how many times has someone handed you a bottle of water at an event or in a part?
There is something about sharing food that allows us to show honor and kindness. Maybe it is the very urgency of provision that makes it such a wonderful aspect of hospitality. To not eat or drink is to die. So those who extend their hands with provisions act as a lifeline; extending life for the receiver.
As I explore hospitality along the Geneva Lake Shore Path, I have seen small examples of provision from those who open up their backyards to a hiker like me. The most helpful example if the family that installed a water fountain along the trail. Because there are only a few public facilities on the 21-mile shore path, water can run out with little opportunity to replenish it. Their water fountain is a dramatic recognition of the most desperate need that a walker may have along the path and a consistent way of meeting that need for anyone walking the path.
Another simple act of provision was a small table of snacks. The family put out an assortment of snacks and drinks and simply provided a can where people could leave a cash payment. This simple act of provision was not imposing or demanding, but simply offered food to those who might be hungry.
"I think preparing food and feeding people brings nourishment not only to our bodies but to our spirits. Feeding people is a way of loving them, in the same way that feeding ourselves is a way of honoring our own creativeness and fragility." Shauna Niequist
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