I read this book right as I prepared to move to a new state, and the timing was perfect. I now feel hopeful and eager to practice hospitality with renewed purpose and joy.

Hospitality does not come naturally to me, and picking up a book about it always feels risky, like I might just be getting a bunch or recipes, or encouragement to set my table nicely, or stereotypes about the Christian woman as a homemaker. But if you follow Leslie Verner's writing online, you won't be surprised to learn that this is NOT that book.

Verner shares the lessons she learned about hospitality and community after living overseas, moving across the United States, and cultivating intentional relationships with new American immigrants and international students. Her anecdotes and biblical insights are poignant and woven together well. She highlights aspects of American culture that make hospitality countercultural, and unpacks why it is imperative for the Christian to choose a different way.

As I read, I was captivated and compelled by Verner's vision of the gifts hospitality can offer us and how it allows us to better reflect the image of God. HIGHLY recommend.