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 Christ
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 it's 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 a grand total of twelve cents to last 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 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 a very
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 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 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 good to see you again. Thank
you for the lovely meal and Thank you, too, for
the beautiful coat.
Love Always, Jesus Christ
The air was still cold, but even without a coat,
Ruth no longer noticed.
