Happy holidays, friends! You're going to absolutely love this episode featuring my talk with a special family friend of mine, Mary O’Donnell. Mary's daughter is actually a good friend of mine who has inherited her gift for making people feel at home. I absolutely loved being at their house when I was younger, and counted it as a second home. And I wasn't alone - dozens of people from different ages and stages found refuge and even a long-term home with Mary and her family.
Listen in as we discuss Mary's international upbringing, how the art of welcome became a major part of her life, stories from her famously full house, and essential elements to communicating genuine care to the people who enter your life and your threshold. I know I’ll be reflecting on this conversation for a while to come. It’s easy to let excuses like not having the perfect home or the perfect time prevent us from inviting others in, but often that's not where we start.
I hope this episode encourages you (as it has for me!) to invite others into wherever you are and to share whatever you have this holiday season and new year.
As Mary said, "It was all worth it; it was all wonderful because we were sowing care into different people’s lives."
Extra Stuff:
This is my church's sermon series on the early Christian church's culture of deep care and connection which I highly recommend: