A Bag of Vegetables

After school I rushed to the store to grab a few essentials.  My dog hadn't peed in ten hours and someone else was watching my kids.  I ran in and got some meat, salad, and Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, you know, essentials.  I also purchased fifteen other things, but I'm sure you've done the same thing at least once.  I hurried to the checkout line with the fifty other people rushing to the store to buy a few groceries.  I'm the third person in my line so I wait patiently, thumbing through the trash magazines on the racks.  By the way, Britney Spears looks really good these days.

The lady in front of me is paying for her groceries and I see her ask to put something back and she hands the cashier her cash to pay for the groceries.  As they are packing her cart and handing her the receipt I realize what was happening and I say, "Please scan the item and give it to her.  I will pay for it."  She had, apparently, left her wallet in her apron at the hair salon where she works and only had a limited amount of cash.  She thanked me and handed me her card saying, "If you need a haircut, I will do it for free.  Just come by and see me."  I thanked her and also thought about my hair dresser's reaction if I ever cheated on her and just smiled.  The cashier looks at me and said, "That was so nice of you.  I love to see things like this happen!"  I smiled and paid for my groceries doing my very best to keep from crying.  As I walked away with my groceries the cashier hands me my receipt and holds my hand long enough to say, "In five minutes I've just found out what kind of person you are.  God Bless You."

I hurried out the door with my five inch heels clicking on the floor.  I crossed the street and unloaded the groceries in my car.  As I sat in my seat tears began to fall down my face and fill my lap.  The item I purchased for her was a bag of vegetables costing less than two dollars.  Maybe she really forgot her wallet, maybe she actually did not have any more money.  She may have been a millionaire, but at that moment, at the checkout counter, it didn't matter who she was; it mattered that she needed a little more money to buy the vegetables.  As the tears continued to fill my eyes I began to sob saying to God, "I can NEVER out give you and the overwhelming blessings you've given me.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share your love with someone who likely needed to see your face today."

I'm not telling you this story for you to praise my "good deed," but rather to encourage you to spread love.  I don't think I chose the deed as much as it chose me.  I am certain if you were in the same line seeing the same events you would do the same thing.  I can remember times when I didn't have enough money for food or gas and we would just stay home.  The tragedy occurs when you don't react and you allow an opportunity to be missed.  Sitting in my car with a lap full of tears and a heart filled with gratitude, I was praising the only one worthy of thanks, my heavenly Father.

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?  Matthew 6:25-27  Biblegateway.com

Prior to this verse is also this verse:

 6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  Mathew 6:1-4

This story likely would've remained secret if it had not impacted me so strongly.  I understand very well that my treasure is not on this earth but in heaven, though I am thankful for the times when I was at a place where even a bag of vegetables was not in my budget and someone else provided support.(Day 135).  Goodnight Friends.