Juggling Groceries

My optimistic mother is always convinced that no shopping cart of any kind is needed when we take a quick trip inside a grocery store. Every single time (almost), my sisters and I end up juggling arm-fulls of cans, boxes, bags, and inevitably, something frozen. As we walk into the store, we eye the beautiful lines of shopping carts with desire as we faithfully plod after our mother into the depths of the store, a little bit worried as she reassures us that we won’t be buying that much. 

The other day, I realized that I do the exact same thing. I walked into a small store to buy some cooking oil and milk. Because that’s all I needed, naturally, I did not grab one of the hand-carts. Four minutes later I walk across the small store to grab my oil, noodles and soap dancing in my arms, threatening to fall to their doom. Why didn’t I just grab a shopping cart? I grab the oil with the tips of my fingers one hand, dreading how I’m going to pull off carrying the milk as well. I turned to go find the milk when I saw a man coming towards me with an empty shopping basket, a huge smile decorating his face.

People here are really nice. If they notice that you need help, they help without being asked to. We were in Namibia on our Christmas vacation road trip and got a flat tire on our rental car. Within five minutes of pulling over, three cars had stopped and one man immediately changed our tire for us. We didn’t ask him to do that. And though all five of us were girls, we were not incompetent of changing a tire. But the man saw a need, fulfilled it, and asked for nothing in return, though he did receive nothing short of a million heart-felt thank-yous.

This is exactly what God wants each of us to do, wherever we are. Whether it be in Blantyre or Tri-Cities, we are here to help others and not focus on ourselves. I was reading The Messiah by Jerry D. Thomas, and came across this great quote:

“Every moment is a treasure to be spent making someone’s life better and heaven more real.”

p. 60

Sometimes I have a hard time with this, especially if I’m focused on getting something done or meeting deadlines, but every single time I stop to help somebody, they feel better, and I feel better - as if life really does matter. And when somebody stops to help me, it lifts my spirits, even if it was a very small, simple thing. 

Never underestimate the power of your actions and words.