“Do you look at things according to the outward appearance?”—II Corinthians 10:7 (NKJV)
Because I work in retail, I try never to be annoyed when someone holds up a line that I’m waiting in as a customer. Yet the woman ahead of me in the supermarket had an overflowing cart and two fistfuls of coupons. Even her son was in on the act with a fistful.
I was getting impatient when I saw how long it was taking the cashier to finish. I didn’t say anything, but I did roll my eyes and tap my fingers on my grocery basket. I only need these two things. If I’d gotten here a minute sooner, she might have let me go ahead of her.
Finally, the cashier was finished with matching the items to the coupons, the towering pile of selections was all rung up, and the mother and son gathered up their purchases. “How about that?” the cashier said to me.
Assuming she was as irritated as I, I was about to blurt, “How annoying!” when she continued, “They do this at the end of every single month, just when food-bank supplies are getting low.”
At that moment, the boy piped up, “Mama, can we go to the food bank now?”
The coupon lady’s eyes met mine. “I’m trying to teach him a lesson about service,” she said quietly.
He’s not the only one who could use a lesson, I thought. God, today, may I excuse rather than accuse the people around me when I don’t know their motivations. Let me see everyone through your kind eyes.
Download your FREE ebook, Daily Devotionals: 7 Days of Bible Devotions to Strengthen Your Faith.
