I glanced down at the invitation
that I clutched in my hand.
I scanned past the words,
"Come as you are. No jacket required."
and found the location.
Yes, I was at the right place.
I peered through the window again
and saw a room of people
whose faces seemed to glow with joy.
All were neatly dressed,
adorned in fine garments and appeared strangely clean
as they dined at this exquisite restaurant.
Ashamed, I looked down
at my own tattered and torn clothing,
covered in stains.
I was dirty, in fact, filthy.
A foul smell seemed to consume me
and I couldn't shake the grime that clung to my body.
I turned around to leave,
the words from the invitation seemed to leap out at me...
"Come as you are. No jacket required."
I decided to give it a shot.
Mustering up every bit of courage I could find,
I opened the door to this restaurant
and walked up to a man standing behind a podium.
"Your name, sir?" he asked me with a smile.
I mumbled my name without looking up.
I thrust my hands deep into my pockets,
hoping to conceal their stains.
He didn't seem to notice the filth that I was covered in
and he continued, "Very good, Sir.
A table is reserved in your name.
Would you like to be seated?"
I couldn't believe what I heard!
A grin broke out on my face and I said,
"Yes, of course!"
He led me to a table and, sure enough,
there was a place card
with my name written on it in a deep, dark red.
As I browsed over a menu,
I saw many delightful items listed.
There were things like,
"peace,"
"joy,"
"blessings,"
"confidence,"
"assurance, "
"hope,"
"love,"
"faith,"
and "mercy."
I realized that this was no ordinary restaurant!
I flipped the menu back to the front
in order to see where I was at...
"God's Grace"
was the name of this place!
