“We are all of us from birth to death guests at a table we did not spread.”
—Rebecca H. Davis
Has an uninvited guest ever brought suitcases to your house? Plus, a hostile pet named Lovey?
When I was growing up in a pastor’s home, uninvited guests were the norm. Many brought suitcases and — if not Loveys — equally mean kids.
A penniless evangelist, his wife and five children spent several weeks. Again, my siblings and I slept on the floor. I worked overnight at Denny’s. Once, during a rare nap, a kid poised a pipe at my window and bellowed like a mastodon.
Another incident involved a lady preacher named Bunny who often stayed with us. One night, Dad, who also worked construction, arrived home after everyone had retired. He climbed into bed beside Mom.
One thought, though, struck like lightning. Hadn’t Mom said Bunny was staying overnight?
His pastor’s heart stopped. Dad yanked covers from the huddled heap beside him.
Mom glared. “Bunny’s coming Friday, not tonight!”
I could hardly wait until college, where I’d take control of my life.
One weekend, an unknown force roused me from sleep, swinging me in circles. Surely, a nightmare. …
No. The girl — half my size! — swinging me was real. So was my roommate, giggling up and down the scale.
I gasped to the stranger, “Who are you?”
“I’m Vicky!”
“Vicky, please put me down.”
She deposited me on my bed, singing, “O Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Color TV?”
Other giggling, melodious strangers gathered. I took refuge in another party pooper’s room. Unfortunately, my discussion with my roommate afterward was not the last.
So … uninvited-weird-people incidents were not confined to parsonages.
That lesson has been confirmed again and again. Unlike our late parents, though, my siblings and I have placed gated fences around our lives.
Recently, I reflected on hospitality as I watered uninvited cosmos, seeded from last year’s planting. Volunteer zinnias inundate marigold borders. I never planted those petunias, yet they invade our premises, looking wild … and wonderful.
How did Mom and Dad’s uninvited guests ultimately respond to kindness? Perhaps some, like disruptive flowers, are blooming in the place God — not people — prepared for them.
Most humans need fences to ensure safety and well-being.
But maybe I’ll leave my gate open more often.
Your Extraordinary Ordinary: How do you react to the uninvited?
