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Harveen's Brand of Hospitality

Posted by Lisa Hendey in Homemaking on Monday, October 10, 2011 12:14 PM

This weekend, I experienced the power of faith and of hospitality while hanging out with a very cool group of Catholic ladies at the Winona Diocesan Council of Catholic Women’s annual conference. As the “featured” speaker, supposedly I was there to convey information and inspiration to the members who were assembling from ten districts across the southern portion of the state of Minnesota.

But the truth of the matter is that I was the one who was taught some very important lessons. Since they are too numerous to list here, I want to focus on the master course in hospitality delivered to me by my hostess for the weekend, Harveen. She’d probably blush at the thought of me sharing this with you – she’s that kind of woman: a no-nonsense, gutsy labor and delivery nurse at a Catholic hospital who has been elected by her peers to lead the WDCCW for the next two years. Along with being installed in her new post this weekend, Harveen volunteered to take in a wayward California mom, sight unseen. When I debarked my plane in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, there she stood with a smile on her face and welcoming arms underneath the bright orange banner that declared, “Welcome Hunters”, ready to whisk me across the border to Minnesota. I’ll admit that I felt a bit of trepidation, as I always do when I am invited to be housed with complete strangers. But within five minutes in Harveen’s company, I knew I’d made a new friend for life.

Harveen is the kind of person who personifies hospitality, but the funny thing is that for someone like her, it’s a natural brand of welcoming – not something forced or learned from a magazine. Harveen’s style of openness is infectious, making you want to go home and treat someone as nicely as you’ve been treated by her. In reflecting upon my time in her presence, I had to share a few of the ways in which Harveen engaged my heart and my senses this weekend:

Harveen’s hospitality looks like a friendly face that reflects her willingness to step up and say “yes” when a need presents itself.

Harveen’s hospitality feels like crisp sheets, line-dried in the sun and spread across a bed in a room that is ready to welcome a stranger.

Harveen’s hospitality sounds like a still, quiet breeze and a great conversation like one you’d share with someone you’ve known forever – with a Minnesota accent, of course, and the crunch of autumn leaves on a walk around the streets of Luverne.

Harveen’s hospitality smells like ripe red tomatoes, still warm from the vine, and basil plucked fresh from the garden, mixed with olive oil and just a dash of seasoning.

Harveen’s hospitality tastes like a bag of home-made trail mix, pressed into your hand as a final token of good will as you set off for the next destination, “just in case” you get hungry even though you’ve been fed delicious home cooked meals non-stop all weekend.

Harveen’s hospitality is the type you can’t put a price on, delivered with grace by someone who likely doesn’t have any idea of the impact she has upon those around her. Quiet, unassuming, and rock solid, she is the wife who steps up to support her spouse, the grandma who’s there to give maternal wisdom to her children, the nurse who dispenses patient care with an ardent pro-life perspective and the volunteer who’s always ready to step up when her pastor calls upon her. Our world is better because of Harveen and those like her who understand the art of giving, of being Christ to others in simple, tangible ways.

Do you have a Harveen in your life? What are some of your favorite ways of showing hospitality in your home?

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