Hospitality and Economics

Hospitality.  Have you ever looked up the definition?  It is rooted in being hospitable.  The definition includes being readily receptive or open and offering a pleasant or sustaining environment.  It also uses the terms of cordial reception of guests.   You might wonder why I want to link this to economics.  I find that I think about economics in terms of sharing and hospitality is about welcoming someone or something into what I might consider my space, and sharing that space.  It is not about giving up, but about making the most of what is present.  I have often discovered that when I share something with others, then I always seem to have enough.  I believe in the "100 fold" of scripture.  Give away what you have and it will be returned a 100 fold.   I have experienced this in terms of giving half of what I might have to another, and later finding something comes back to me in ways I had not imagined.  I do not think the 100-fold is about equality but equity and quality. 

What does hospitality mean for you?  It is a choice, a challenge, a habit?  Sometimes for me it is all of these.