Just A Second!

It happened a number of times on Sunday. After church, it is usually time for me to relax a little and just kick back after an involved morning. This past sunday was no different. But what happened through the afternoon was not unusual either. I would wander around and inevitably end up standing in front of the white door in the kitchen. And like other nondescript sundays, I would discover, on opening the door, there was not much to choose from. The assortment of condiments doesn’t cut it. Had a yogurt an hour ago? So, I would close the door and get a drink of water. And an hour later, I would find myself repeating the same thing. It was time. When it was dinner time, we did what they tell you never to do when you are hungry. We went grocery shopping. Seems like a lot of other people had the same idea. It was like a bunch of locus descending on a field of lettuce. If you are like me, shopping for groceries is usually a no hurry activity. So, I let the crowd do what they wanted to do. In the end, we all arrived at the checkouts at the same time. And I thought they would be gone by then. Go figure. We made the checkout ladies job a little less stressful with polite positive conversation. Then, we helped her bag the groceries. She thanked us for doing something almost no one else does. Glad to help. What did it take me? I remember another time when a previous customer had been very rude and impatient and took more time arguing then purchasing the item. On getting up to the frazzled clerk who was profusely apologizing to me for taking so long, I said, “Don’t worry about it, the last time I was in a hurry was 1984 and that was because I was late for church”. She laughed, relaxed and thanked me. What did it take? While carrying my five bags of groceries out the door this last Sunday, I stopped for a few seconds. There, coming in out of the heat was another employee, drenched in sweat, and pushing 15 empty carts. So, I motioned for him to come in. He smiled and began to push the carts again. As he went by me, he said something similar to the checkout girl. “Thanks, you’re the first person ever to stop to let me through.” I wondered how long he had worked at the store. What did it take me? On the drive home I thought about our witness to the world. I thought about what people see when we are impatient and rushed so much that we push people aside because we think our agenda is more important. People don’t look at us when we piously attend church. They observe us in every day, day to day living. For a few minutes we let others come first. Didn’t take much. Always wondered why clerks at the store and waitresses at restaurants always want to serve me. Do they do the same with you? Jesus said, “I came not to be served but to serve.” What did it take him? The verse ends, “and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He showed us, and now it’s our turn. What will it take us? A lot less then it took Jesus.
May His beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win;
And may they forget the channel, Seeing only Him.
Something to think about
Rob