Life lessons from Corrie ten Boom - part 1Sample

Hospitality

Hebrews 13:1 (NIV)

“Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”

The 1930s: the doorbell of the watchmakers shop rings on and off during the day. Father Ten Boom welcomes all his customers in a friendly manner. The watch that doesn’t work too well anymore is not the primary reason the customers decide to visit the watchmakers shop. They have come to share their questions and sorrows and to ask Father for his advice. Father listens, gives advice where needed and prays when people want him to. Often he invites people to go to the dining room where Aunt Anna, the sister of Corrie’s mother, gives them a hot cup of soup. In this way, even before the war starts, the foundation is laid for people to trust and enjoy the hospitality of the family Ten Boom.

From 1941 onwards the Nazi regime starts to send letters to the Jewish people to order them to go on transport. The Nazis pretend it is to provide work and food for the Jewish people. But many of the Jews already know that it is about the extermination of the whole Jewish population. To whom can they go for help? Can they knock on every average door in their street? No, you wouldn’t do that! But you will knock on those doors of those people who proved to be faithful and hospitable before wartime. More than eight hundred people find help and protection at the house of the family Ten Boom.

To Reflect upon

It is important to be faithful and trustworthy in everyday life without wanting to stand out. It is not about getting honor, credits or attention but about being faithful with a compassionate heart. Even if hardly anyone notices.

Prayer

Thank You Lord that You call us to be hospitable and to love one another. Give us an open heart and attitude, so that it may come true what You say: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 24:40).