Spiritual Grocery Shopping

 

A great memory from six years ago:  My wife called to me from the kitchen saying she needed me to go to the grocery store for her.  I was tired of reading, so I jumped up, grabbed the shopping list, and drove to Wall-Mart.  I parked and walked toward the door, but as I scanned over the items on the list, my heart sank.  My wife had not been specific.  Now this may not seem to be a problem to you, but it was for me.  I knew better.  There are so many ways that a man can mess up if the list isn’t specific.  If it reads, peanut butter, does she mean creamy or crunchy?  Cheap store brand or Peter Pan?  Small, medium, or large?  But I was prepared:  I pulled out my cell phone and called her.  As I quizzed my wife on the first item, she reminded me that the groceries were for Brother So-and-so, a dear friend at church that had been laid up for several weeks, and our church is having an old-fashioned pounding for him tomorrow.  My wife said, “Get whatever you want.”  As I ended the call, a warm feeling spread over me.  Hey, I couldn’t mess up!  Whatever I picked would be right.  This was easy!.  Then, as I reached for the Great Value strawberry jam, I had another wonderful thought.  This was no ordinary shopping trip; this was a spiritual shopping trip!  This wasn’t for me, and really, this wasn’t for Brother So-and-so; this shopping was for the Lord!  So, I put back the Great Value jam and picked out the more expensive Smucker’s Jam and put it into my cart.  I felt good.  As I pulled items off the shelves, I smiled.  I was doing God’s work!  When I got to the check-out, I even hoped that the total would be larger than it was!  Driving home, I remembered the words of Jesus that Paul quoted in Acts 20:35, “… It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  It was then that I realized that those words were true.  Tomorrow my brother in Christ will be blessed, but tonight, I am blessed.  Thank you, Lord.