Sit Here

5 days ago

1 min read

Oil painting of a red chair in soft half-light, for the letter «Sit Here» – Letters to a Daughter

There are people who, when they walk into a home for the first time, stay standing longer than they need to.

Coat still over their arm, a slightly uncertain smile. They look around, trying to work out where to sit, whether they can feel at ease.

Then someone gets up, takes their coat, pulls out a chair and says: “Come, sit here.”

And something shifts.

We know almost nothing about this person. Where they come from, what they think, what stories they carry with them. Maybe we have little in common. Maybe nothing at all.

But we didn’t need to know any of that to offer them a chair.

It’s a tiny gesture. And yet it changes the air in the room.

There will be time for questions.

Welcoming someone, though, does something different. It makes room even for what we don’t yet understand.

Don’t close the door too soon.

After all, the best conversations often begin this way.

With a chair pulled out.

And a question we chose to save for later.

Questions for reflection

1. Can you remember a time when someone made room for you before they even knew you? What changed in that moment?

2. What questions do you feel you need to ask others before you can feel at ease with them?

3. Who in your life right now is still standing, coat over their arm?