Thursday, January 15, 2015

How Do Our Crossing Life Paths Change Us?

I was at a big box store today doing a little grocery shopping.  MAP FBP...milk, antiperspirant, (that's the MAP), foil and baby powder.  Yes, I did buy a little more than that, but that's ok.  I also found out that this store has my favorite pretzels.  Yay!!!  I digress.

At the check out I commented to the cashier that her bagging was very neat.  She told me that it isn't always that way, but she does try.  She also told me that even though she sometimes takes verbal heat from customers and supervisors, she does like her job.  She also told me that she understands sometimes people take things out on others because they have extremely difficult life situations behind the scenes that we do not know.  She told me that after having learned about the situation of a coworker that she now takes extra moments to be kind.  She then told me how she realized she had been wrong for misjudging the "attitude" of her coworker.  I thought her to be very wise.  She was able to look inside of herself and admit her own wrong doing in misjudging someone.  I had a lot of respect for this young woman when I left.

In the parking lot while I was unloading groceries, a young man asked me if I had some change because he was out of gas.  I didn't think much of it.  I had some change and gas prices are lower now, so change would actually help him.  Yeah, I could spare some change.  The young man said thank you and walked away.

...then he did something a little different.  He turned around and with tears running down his face, he came back to me and said, "I just want to say thank you.  The last 3 people I asked yelled at me and said I wanted to scam them."  Then he went on to tell me what was going on in his life and with his family and what they would be facing in the coming days or weeks.  It touched my heart and made me very sad for him.  When I asked him if I could pray for him, all he said was, "please."  (I don't think it was a very good prayer because by this time I was in tears too, but God will take care of all the details.)

Driving home, the cashier's wise perspective really struck me as I thought about how much this young man had going on behind the scenes.  If he hadn't come back to say thank you.  I never would have known any of this.  Maybe today I was able to be a little like Bob?  (See earlier post to learn about Bob.)  Maybe I made his day just a little bit easier.  Maybe today he knows that someone does care.  Maybe this crossing path was a little tiny beacon of hope for him today.

Father God, I pray that you will be with him and his family now and each coming day.  I ask this through Jesus.  Amen.