An international year of prayer for
Morocco
| Week 47 |
HospitalityOne evening as I packed for a trip to our home country the following day. My husband came home and said his friend Youssef had invited us to dinner. It was already 7:30 p.m. and although my husband refused at least three times saying that we couldn't possibly come, Youssef had insisted.Shortly after we arrived at his home, I went into the kitchen to sit with the women. It was obvious they had just started to make the large couscous meal from scratch. I’m quite sure they hadn’t even killed the chicken until after we arrived. For the next three hours I watched as the women worked happily together without a single complaint that Youssef had invited visitors at the last minute without consulting them. In the end, we had a wonderful evening culminating in a lavish meal at almost midnight. Hospitality is an important value within Moroccan culture. Despite sometimes severely limited means, Moroccan hosts always honor and often humble their Western visitors by the generous blessing of hospitality bestowed upon them. One must expect to spend at least several hours when an invitation is accepted to visit in a Moroccan home. There will be tea and or coffee, delicious snacks of some sort, a meal served in a common dish accompanied by fresh (often hot) homemade bread, and fruit. If you are invited to stay the night you may be overwhelmed by the treatment you receive. Hospitality and generosity are two of the most cherished and endearing qualities of Moroccan culture. The West has something to learn from Morocco in these areas. "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:2 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." Malachi 3:10
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