Tag Archives: airbnb

day 2354: Hosting and Guesting

“Hear my prayer, O Lord!Listen to my cries for help! Don’t ignore my tears.
For I am your guest—a traveler passing through,as my ancestors were before me”

What Airbnb has taught many homeowners who rent their places is how to be a great host.  At the beginning of the service it was good enough to have a clean and well-appointed room or apartment, but today the competition among short-term rentals is so high that those who want to be most rented go above and beyond to distinguish themselves as a true host for a special and welcome guest.  And thus, those are the renters who are succeeding.  What if we were to think of our workplaces as a facility filled with guests who freely choose where they would like to stay during their workdays?  You might be saying, “Oh here we go again, more free this and more services and comforts”.  Well, maybe, but maybe it is more subtle than that.  What if we were to go to work today (or even all of next week) with our eyes wide open as if we were guests, thinking whether at the end of the day or week with free-choice we would return or not?  What would we see differently or what is missing in the feeling of our company of being a great host for our employees?

King David calls upon God to recognize David for what he is, a guest of this world, passing through, relying on his host to hear his needs and then provide for him.  At first it seems to me that David is being presumptuous in that as a guest he is deserved a response.  However, if we truly play out what David is expressing in this moment, he is saying, “I am a vulnerable and helpless guest who cannot find my way around without my host”.  And to that, I respond to King David with, “Me too”.   God loves to be our loving, giving, welcoming and shepherding host.  All we have to do is let Him be so.

Reference: Psalm 39:12 (New Living Translation)