Our poor waitress!
After Covid, we returned to a popular dinner theater for their latest production. Ticket holders enjoy drinks and a delicious buffet before heading into the cozy theater-in-the-round for a show.
You pre-purchase a combined dinner-theater ticket for each person. The only additional credit card charge might be an adult beverage or cocktail during dinner. That’s how we missed leaving a gratuity (tip) for our attentive and hard working waitress. I happened to spy some fine print at the bottom of our pre-printed tickets. “Dinner gratuities not included.” Oh no! I had just signed our Visa bill for my bride’s glass of wine. That was much, much less than a tip for our combined meal value. “No wonder they print out the meal value separately on the ticket,” we both realized. It's to help you calculate an appropriate tip amount (and prompt you to do so)!
We quickly waved our waitress back over and handed her some additional cash. She accepted our tip with a smile and a warm thank you. “Do you get short-changed on your tips very often?” I asked. “All the time,” she acknowledged, with barely a hint of irritation. “They should leave a note card out on the table,” my wife suggested, “for people like us who don’t study the ticket that closely. Something like ‘meal tips not included.’”
“They used to do that,” the young woman said, shaking her head, “but some people said it was ‘too pushy.” My wife and I moved on to the theater and checked in with the hostess for the after dinner show. We chatted more about our waitress, impressed by her Graciousness - providing such a nice experience for us without likely expectation of any payback commensurate to her task.
Salvation not included
We live, work and play on a planet of endless beauty and enormous resources. It’s easy to forget what a gift this is. It's not from some “mother earth” entity. Not from “nature.” All of it is a gift from God.
God isn’t pushy. He hasn’t waved a card or bill in our face that says, “Eternal life not included.” Many of us are indeed appreciative of this life. Others take it for granted or undervalue it's worth. We’ll even say out loud from time to time, “I’m so thankful for the beauty all around us.” (‘Gee, that was a really great meal”). But there’s a second act, the portion after this life here on earth. It's what's on the other side of the eternal "theater" doors. This is the real reason we're here - the part after drinks and a buffet.
The price has been pre-paid, but not by us. Jesus did that on the cross. We can accept His gift with our sincere Faith in Jesus as our Savior, and by asking forgiveness for our sins. I read the fine print: "Whoever believes in me, though they die, yet shall they live." Jesus said that, the Apostle John wrote it the 11th chapter of his Gospel. No extra tipping (works) required. Just personal humility shown in our sincere faith and repentance. You can read more in John's gospel.
For many people around the world, life is miserable, difficult and dangerous - it's no buffet, not even close. But for all of us, regardless of circumstance, there is promise of an eternal life on the amazing other side. Please check in with Jesus.
"Behold, I make all things new." Revelation 21:5
What do you believe?
2 comments:
I will admit, as I read this analogy, I was thinking you would relate the tip to our gratitude to our Father for all He has provided. I also had the show after as eternal life. But you took it a different way. Not only did He provide the meal, He provide the tip, eternal life if we accept it. In fact, He paid the bill because, shamefully, we walked in empty-handed.
I love that thought- we walked in empty handed!
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