Today over at Simple Mom, Shaun Groves writes about an experience he had with his mother in their local grocery store.
Bent over at the shoulder blades. Hair that shade of pinkish silver denial. Spotted hands on the crossbar of her shopping cart, pushing hard against it. Wrestling her way down the aisle in a losing battle against a wobbling stubborn wheel.
I passed by. But my mother? She stopped
“Here,” she said,”take mine.”
She began lifting the woman’s groceries from her cart and placing them in ours...
Shaun goes onto say that as he helped his mom switch carts that day he learned something about compassion, community and service. The story reminded me of home. A small town where everyone knows everyone else and is generally quick to lend a hand to a neighbor. Living there, I was quick to lend a hand or stop and talk. Going out of my way was part of small town life, and it didn't feel all that "out of the way."
Since moving to a bigger city, I've settled into the anonymity that makes not lending a hand, not talking easier. Live and let live, that's by and large the unspoken motto of city life. I say that knowing that there are pockets of the city where neighbors know each other and people genuinely care. I also know that there are some people who are just down right neighborly no matter where they live. My mother-in-law is one of those people. I am always convicted about my impersonal interactions with cashiers when I'm shopping with her. She asks about their day, not because it's polite, but because she cares.
In the short time that I've been a mom, I've seen a lot of things about my life and character that have got to go if I'm going to train my little girl to be a woman who lives a gospel-centered life. And this is just another thing to put on the growing list of things I need Jesus to help me grow in before I can help her.
I want to be someone who's looking out for the needs of people I run across at the grocery store or in line at the Post Office. And not just because Ava is my daughter, but because Jesus is my King. Jesus saw people and their needs no matter how big the crowd or what he was on his way to do.
So here's to getting back to a better way of life, of seeing people even when the population is a little larger, to having a small town heart in the city. To having a Jesus heart wherever I am.
