God at the Grocery

[Guest Blogger, She-Who-is-Smarter-Than-She-Looks (she bears other titles) takes a stab at her first blog post on The Tonsured One's site.]

I had an experience the other day that has set me thinking. You know, one of those little throw-away moments that then worms into your subconscious and works there, until you are forced to pull it to the surface again and acknowledge it, examine it, turn it this way and that, see what it really is.

I was at Publix (my favorite grocery store, where the employees actually know and practice the meaning of the words Customer Service) and I was in the checkout line. Another lady was already being checked out in front of me. There seemed to be some hold-up in the process (that happens every single time I go to any store-as soon as I get in the line it comes to a screeching halt.) Anyway, I began to glance idly through a magazine, not really paying attention to the other people. I sort of caught that the lady checking out was trying to write a check for a sum greater than the amount of her order, but that since it was a pretty large amount, the cashier wasn't sure how to proceed. A manager was called, and she showed the cashier how to enter what info was needed and the whole transaction then flowed along. Now, here was the interesting part: I heard the cashier, a lovely middle-aged woman, say “Thank you for coming through my line today, and being patient with me. Every time someone comes through, I learn something new, and I gain experience. So thank you.” The other woman left with her groceries and the cashier turned to me and thanked me also for being patient with her. She checked me out,was certainly pleasant the whole time, and I left. When I came home, I told my husband the story, and he suggested that I blog about it. I didn't really think it was worthy of writing about, but now that it has worked on me, I may see some other meaning I didn't see on the surface before. I thought about the cashier and what a novel and refreshing approach to life and her job she showed. The lady was in her middle years but obviously still was eager to learn and experience new things, and she realized she had to work a bit to really learn them.

What if I applied that same approach to my life? What if I started every day with a prayer for God to teach me something new, instead of my usual prayer of please let me get through the day without a catastrophe. Because I am afraid of pain and confrontation, a lot of my prayer time with God is spent in supplication for “an easy time.” I've been blessed with a good life, good opportunities, a good education, and most of all, people who love me. What courage would it take to pray every day “Please send me a new, difficult challenge today so I can learn from it.”? Our faith journey must be just that, a journey, and not every journey goes as planned.

James 1: 2-4 says “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” I want to learn the lessons without doing the hard work to learn them. I have heard many times to be careful what I pray for, because God may actually give it to me. Maybe first I need to pray to God for courage, the courage I need to really ask to be truly close to Him and His will. I know He is just waiting for me to ask.

She Who Must Be Obeyed (My husband made me sign this that way)