If you've ever seen an episode of Full House or if you're even just a little bit familiar with the show, you will recognize the picture. These row of houses, located in San Francisco, came to fame through the intro of each Full House episode. You know how the song goes: "Everywhere you look, everywhere you go, there's a heart (there's a heart), a hand to hold on to...". Centered around a widowed father (Danny Tanner), who enlists the help of two friends to help raise his three daughters, Full House began in September 1987 and ended eight years later on May 23, 1995 (about a week after I was born!). Totaling 192 episodes, Full House touched the lives of so many with its heartfelt conversations and fun, family adventures.

In 2016, Netflix gave new life to the series with a sequel series called Fuller House. This series focuses on Danny's oldest daughter, DJ, who is now a widow herself with three children. Now in its fourth season, Fuller House features similar heartfelt conversations and family adventures, however, this series includes some amazing references and sayings that only those who have seen Full House will fully understand. I'll be the first to admit, many of these references come across extremely cheesy. I'll also be the first to admit, however, that I still LOVE them. Full House had my heart, so I just can't escape my love for Fuller House, no matter how cheesy. But that's not why I'm writing.

Varying scenes which occur quite often in Fuller House seem to show people knocking on the front door of that famous San Francisco house. This knock is almost always followed by someone, usually DJ, saying, "It's always open!" (Check out the Season 3 trailer on Youtube for a great example). Cute at first, but overtime the overused phrase began to annoy me. But now I have a different perspective on the phrase.

You see, the simple phrase "it's always open" actually speaks volumes. As I facilitated a small group for a leadership class, we were discussing the topic of hospitality, specifically the question: "How might Jesus want to use [our] heart and home as a shelter for others?" Students began sharing their reflections and thoughts. One student began to share and in her response she included the phrase, "it's always open", and it immediately clicked for me.

What was once an annoying, overused phrase in Fuller House, is actually a representation of what our hearts, as Christ followers, need to be. Someone knocks on the door and you hear someone shout, "it's always open" and the person knocking enters the home. DJ never left her door wide open, but she did always keep it unlocked. When someone came knocking, she was quick to let them know that the door is always open and that they are free to come in. When it comes to hospitality, and how Jesus calls us to create space for our neighbors, we aren't expected to have the door of our hearts open all day and all night. Rather, we need to be prepared, keeping it unlocked, for when someone does come knocking, to say "It's always open!" and welcome them in.

Hospitality is the practice of creating a safe, open space where a friend or stranger can enter and experience the welcoming spirit of Christ in another. In Fuller House, someone knocks, hears the usual phrase, and enters the home, followed by an eruption of praise and warmth from not only the audience, but the cast as well. The home in Fuller House, while fictional and includes A LOT of audience participation (mainly in claps and cheers), is a great representation of how we, as Christians, should be creating a space for friends AND strangers to experience Christ in each other.

Paul writes in Romans 15:7 (ESV), "Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." And in Mark 12:30-31 (ESV), Jesus gives us the greatest commandment to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength...", and the second greatest commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself."

Hospitality is so close to the heart of Christ. From the very beginning, Christ welcomed you in and longs for you to do the same for those around you. First and foremost, He desires for you to love God with all that you have within you. With every breath, every thought, every action. With everything, Christ wants you to love God. And second, he wants you to love your neighbor just as you would love yourself. You wouldn't give yourself a below-par welcome and you certainly wouldn't turn yourself away from the door when you knock. So why do it to those around you? Christ is calling you to a life of hospitality. A life that welcomes in the friend AND the stranger. A life that loves the friend AND the stranger. A life that when someone knocks on the door of you heart, you reply back with "It's always open!"

As you continue on your journey, I pray the lyrics of the Full House theme song would remind you and truly echo in your soul - that everywhere you look and everywhere you go, there is a heart and a hand that needs the presence of Christ living inside you.