THE LETTER
Ruth went to her mailbox 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. Five
dollars and forty cents. "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 of
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.
I put this here 12/5/00 as an inspirational story but found
it comes straight
from the Bible in Matthew 25:34-41, check it out!
Pastor Gary Bullard at First Presbyterian Church in
Kingsport,Tennessee,USA
said it another beautiful way: "May you see the face
of Christ in all you meet."