Love, the Gift

How can we do this:
To welcome the stranger,
The one who comes unknown
Into our tended, tethered lives
To break our hearts again?
Our days are full,
Too many already make a claim
Upon our patience,
Need something from us
That we are barely able to give.
But now the door opens.
Once again,
We see the frightened eyes,
The wounded heart,
The outstretched hand.
We see something else, too,
If we dare to receive it.
We see the gift
This stranger bears,
The thing that changes us.
It is what makes us holy,
What makes us brave and good.
It is love.

--Timothy Haut, April 28, 2013