Guests

“Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”

Rumi – The Guest House – translated by Coleman Barks

Some guests are easier to be grateful for than others, what some leave behind is more pleasant than others, but there is no denying that each has an influence on us.  As the poem says ahead of the passage above:

“Welcome and entertain them all, even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably.  He may be clearing you out for some new delight.”