Eating with Misfits

...'the next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors,
the kind of people who will return the favor.
Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits
from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be–and experience–a blessing.

Luke 14:12-13 (The Message)

It is a luxury to be able to choose "safe", like-minded friends. My social bubble popped while living in a small, eccentric to the max, alternative life-style town for ten years. Hardly anyone "looked" like me! Arriving in town I began to cast about for friends who "fit" me. I found myself empty handed. Then I began to open myself to the town’s supposed "misfits.” Soon my friends became individuals that definitely would not have crossed my path if we had been living in a more populated area. My life, however, was richer, deeper for their "misfit" involvement.

Jesus didn’t seek out "safe" people. He intentionally hung out with the "misfits.” His disciples often tried to blow a protective religious bubble around him - he burst it every time. Jesus wanted to talk, eat, and socialize with the people who didn’t "fit." What difference would he have made if he had stuck with people who thought like him?

For every time you invite a "safe" friend to dinner think about the "misfit", the individual who doesn’t "fit" that could be invited as well. You’ll be–and experience–a blessing.

Jesus, I want to live like You lived, outside the bubble.

Help me to stop looking at who "fits" with me,

looking instead for unexpected friends.

Amen.