The Letter

Ruth went to her mail box and there was only one letter.

She picked it up and looked at it before opening it, 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, and half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton

of milk..leaving Ruth with a 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.  There 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 tot he 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.