A Meaningful Life

George Eliot said”What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other”When we finished with breakfast service this morning, a couple who were overnight guests told me of the stress in their lives and the difficulties they had in getting away to Whitestone. He described the sense of peace that swept over him when he entered his room. She spoke of the quality conversation and re-connection the two of them experienced at dinner and before the fire in their room.

After only one night they were returning to all the pressures of entertaining,decorating and gift buying that have come to characterize the Season. I love being an innkeeper! Folks come and pay me (a modest sum) to stay here and then thank me for letting them come. I really believe the world is a better place because Whitestone exists.

I am not sure I want to operate an inexpensive motel just off the interstate. Certainly there is a need for such facilities. But so many of my guests are either escaping stress or celebrating special occasions. The prevailing atmosphere at the inn is a celebration of the good things God has put in the world for us to enjoy.

I owned a Baskin-Robbins in Knoxville years ago. It was next door to a Waffle House. I was drinking coffee with the Waffle House manager after a busy lunch rush when he said “don’t you get tired of the public?” I told him that I actually liked the “public”. Then I realized how different our customers were. “Your customers rushed in to get a quick meal on a 30 minute lunch break. The Baskin-Robbins customers are celebrating life. Grandparents withgrandchildren-teenagers when school is over-parents and children splurging on enjoyable calories.”

How fortunate I am to still be in the business of maiking life better for others. I truly believe life is less difficult because of peaceful places to escape and celebrate.