INSPIRASUNS

My husband and I have a little habit when we travel. It’s become kind of fun, actually. I will get online and search for a local diner for breakfast before we leave the town/city where we’ve spent the night. We spent the night in Sarasota on Friday evening to have dinner with a good friend who was in town on business.

So yesterday morning, I jumped online to search for the most popular diner in Sarasota. We also wanted to stop at the mall in town, so something near there would have been nice as well, but we were open to whatever. I punched in the directions to the mall first just to see how far we were. Well, while doing that I noticed the Metro Diner literally on the way. I looked at the reviews, wow, they are all 5 stars, and one as recent as three days prior. All of the comments were wonderful, the service was excellent, food was wonderful, atmosphere great. Ok, well, there ya have it, we’d found our breakfast spot!

We left the hotel and made our way to the diner. The complex that it was in was a little run down so I was kind of concerned. It will be fine I thought and in we went. The decor was definitely diner with chrome tables and the spinner stools at the counter, and I think there may have even been a checkered floor 🙂 . The hostess greeted us with a smile and showed us to our table. I looked around and the place was packed with people.

In front of me was the kitchen, it was open so you could see the cooks preparing food, and the expediting station as well. It was manned with people, and what caught my eye was how many of them were young adults. All of the employees were wearing different t-shirts with various sayings and logos for Metro Diner. My favorite shirt of the day had the phrase “What’s shakin bacon” on the back of it.

As we waited for our server I noticed my husband was hesitant, he wasn’t quite sure of the place. He wasn’t grumpy but was not in the diner spirit quite yet. Our server came over and took orders for beverages and it wasn’t long before we had coffee, ahhh, things were getting better already. She took our food orders and we were grabbing the menus, you know the single-page plastic kind that you just flip over to see breakfast on one side, lunch on the other. Anyway, my husband had trouble picking it up off the table, to which the server laughed and replied, “Ya, sometimes they stick to the table”. As she left with our order, my husband began to chuckle, and then openly laugh. I asked him what was wrong, “Oh, boy, that’s great, things stick to the table”.

Over the next little bit while we were waiting for our food I noticed my husband’s demeanor changing. He lightened up and began to look around. At one point he said, “You know, one of the things I noticed and didn’t like initially was the noise, it’s loud in here. Then I realized, everyone is just chatting over breakfast, they are all happy and conversing”. The feel of the place was friendly for sure. As we talked I noticed the crew at this place, and they were a well-oiled machine. Everyone helped each other, they laughed and joked, they knew customers by name, yes it was indeed a friendly place to be.

Just before our food came my husband was looking at the ceiling and commented, “Man these lights are ugly, aren’t they fabulous! They make the place”. Ok, ya that might have been the line of the morning. We got our food and it was delicious as the reviews said. To say we were not disappointed by the Metro Diner would be an understatement.

I’m not sure if there is a message from Father in our experience yesterday. Maybe so, maybe it is just as simple as share your gifts and talents in all that you do. Carry the love of Jesus in your heart and share it, whether you are a cook or server in a diner, or an executive in a large company, share that love. Smile, treat people the way you want to be treated, love others as Jesus loved us. Simple really.

Thank you to the team at Metro Diner for the wonderful experience. Next time we’re in Sarasota, we’ll be back 🙂 .

Have a great day friends!

John 13:35
By this all people will know that your are My disciples, if you have love for one another.