A glimpse of heaven

Over the years I watched my father

Welcome many guests into our home

He offered them a place at our table

Offered them of our hospitality...

My mother would cook for us all

I know she would have appreciated

If he would only ask her first

But she cooked for everyone

Never said a word

Just got on with the job at hand...

Now my parents are old and ill

Still she cooks one meal a day...

Thank you for all the meals mum

Thank you dad, for showing me your heart...

I remember one Christmas day

We were sitting down to our meal

A young man came to our door

My family grumbled that he 

Should intrude on our family meal

I regret that I listened to them

I regret that I turned him away

I regret that I didn't offer him a seat

For there was more than enough

Yes, more than enough to spare

That day is long past; many years ago

I know he was alone and saddened

His life was going off the track...

Forgive me Lord for my lack of love

Forgive me Lord for giving in

Forgive me Lord for not offering him 

A seat at our table: a glimpse of...

What to him would have been like heaven!

To join in with our family that day

Please remember to invite your guests

With this thought in mind

Tomorrow will be too late...

Just think: angels come to us

In their disguises

As poor, weak, infirm, ill strangers

Will you make the same mistake?

I regret mine: you still have a chance...

"When you make a dinner or a supper

Call not your friends, nor your brethren

Neither your kinsmen, 

Nor your rich neighbours...

Lest they also invite you again

And recompense be made...

But when you make a feast

Call the poor, the maimed

The lame, the blind...

And you shall be blessed

For they cannot repay you

You shall be recompensed

At the resurrection of the just"

Luke 14:12 - 14

These are the guests whom it will

Lay on you no great burden to receive

You will not need to provide for them

Elaborate or expensive entertainment

You will need to make no effort at display

The warmth of a genial welcome...

A place at your fireside...

A seat at your home table...

The privilege of sharing the blessing 

Of the hour of prayer

Would be to many of these

Like a glimpse of heaven...