Guess
Who's Coming for Dinner?
Ruth went to her mail box late one Saturday morning and there was only
one letter. She picked it up and
looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again.
There was no stamp, no postmark,
only her name and address. She read the letter:
Dear Ruth:
I`m going to be in your
neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I'd like to stop
by for a visit.
Love
Always, Jesus
|
Her hands were shaking as she
placed the letter on the table. "Why would the Lord want to visit me?
I'm nobody special. I don't have
anything to offer."
With that thought, Ruth remembered
her empty kitchen cabinets. "Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to
offer. I'll have to run down to the
store and buy something for dinner." She reached for her purse and
counted out its contents. It
wasn't much. "Well, I can get some
bread and cold cuts, at least." She threw on her coat and hurried out the door.
A loaf of French bread, a
half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of milk...leaving Ruth with grand total twelve
cents to last her until Monday. Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home,
her meager offerings tucked under
her arm.
"Hey lady, can you help us, lady?"
Ruth had been so absorbed in her
dinner plans, she hadn't even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway. A man and a
woman, both of them dressed in little
more than rags
"Look lady, I ain't got a job, ya
know, and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now it's
getting cold and we're getting kinda
hungry and, well, if you could help us. Lady, we'd really appreciate it."
Ruth looked at them both.
They were dirty, they smelled bad
and frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they really
wanted to.
"Sir, I'd like to help you, but
I'm a poor woman myself. All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and I'm having an
important guest for dinner tonight
and I was planning on serving that to Him."
"Yeah, well, okay lady, I
understand. Thanks anyway."
The man put his arm around the
woman's shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley.
As she watched them leave, Ruth
felt a familiar twinge in her heart.
"Sir, wait!" The couple stopped
and turned as she ran down the alley after them. "Look, why don't you take this food. I'll
figure out something else to serve
my guest."
She handed the man her grocery bag.
"Thank you lady. Thank you very
much!"
"Yes, thank you!" It was the man's
wife, and Ruth could see now that she was shivering. "You know, I've got another coat at
home. Here, why don't you take
this one." Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman's
shoulders. Then smiling, she
turned and walked back to the street...without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest.
"Thank you lady! Thank you very much!"
Ruth was chilled by the time she
reached her front door, and worried too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn't
have anything to offer Him.
She fumbled through her purse for
the door key. But as she did, she noticed another envelope in her mailbox.
"That's odd. The mailman doesn't
usually come twice in one day." She took the envelope out of the box and opened it.
Dear Ruth:
It was so good to see
you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.
Love
Always Jesus
|
The air was still cold, but even
without her coat, Ruth no longer noticed.
Matthew 25
|