By Elaine L. Bridge
Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.
~Danny Thomas
The automatic door opened and the wintry weather carried a host of shoppers into the grocery store in its icy blast. Most hesitated a moment at the entrance, removing hats, stashing gloves in pockets, and unzipping coats before grabbing their shopping lists and heading down the aisles. The situation then reversed itself once they passed through the checkout lanes and donned their winter garb and prepared to head out into the cold once more.
The process seemed to take longer than usual for one elderly female shopper who came through my line that winter's day. Her order processed. Then I was surprised to see her lingering in my lane, fumbling in her pockets and looking about with a worried look on her face. Eventually she asked, "Have you seen my missing red glove?"
There was no sign of it at the register, so she reluctantly moved in the direction of the exit door. People leave belongings behind on a regular basis, and this missing item was likewise no big deal -- she'd either find it somewhere or get herself another pair.
But instead of leaving, the woman remained, circling the checkout area, obviously concerned. The next time I saw her she told me she had walked the whole store, repeatedly retracing her steps to see if she might have dropped her glove.
Finally realizing there was more to her troubled heart than just a lost item of clothing, I listened as she told me the gloves were a gift from her sister who had since passed on. "They are simply irreplaceable," she said.
Suddenly my heart connected to her problem and I started looking for that glove almost as determinedly as she. I searched through her grocery bags in case she had accidentally dropped it in one. I gently urged her to check her coat pockets one more time. Then I circled my register a couple of times, my eyes scanning all the nooks and crannies on the floor where an item might have been dropped and inadvertently kicked out of sight. No luck. I suggested she leave her name and number at the front desk so the store could contact her if the glove was found and turned in. Despondent, she turned to go and I went back to work, but my mind stayed on that woman and her distress over the missing connection with her departed sister.
A short time later I had a few minutes to spare while nobody was in my line. I realized that, while I could do little else to help her, I could pray. In recent weeks God had been building my faith with many answered prayers, and I firmly believed He would show up in this situation as well. So I lifted a simple request in faith, affirming my belief that He knew where the missing glove was and asking that He direct her to it. I smiled to myself as I realized it was just the sort of situation He specializes in, after all -- finding that which is lost and healing broken hearts.
Ten minutes later my white-haired friend was back, a huge grin on her face and her hand madly flapping a red glove in my direction.
"I found it! I found it!" she called. She'd decided to take one more tour around the store and found the glove at last, lying on the edge of the meat counter where someone must have put it. We rejoiced together and I watched as she finally exited the store, her step lighter and her heart happy once more.
I expected God to find her lost glove, but as usual He did more than that. It turned out that more than just a glove was missing. I had clearly lost my focus on why I stood behind that register in the first place. He reminded me that He places me in all my situations each day deliberately, to be a conduit through which His love flows to the people around me. I needed the reminder to be about my Father's business even in my place of business, as well as in my home, my car... and in all the hidden corners of my life where His desires might have been dropped and absently kicked out of sight by the seemingly more pressing problems of the day.
I worked the rest of that shift with a totally different attitude, believing God sent that woman to the store not for groceries, but for me. She may have found her lost glove, but I found my missing purpose.
Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.
~Danny Thomas
The automatic door opened and the wintry weather carried a host of shoppers into the grocery store in its icy blast. Most hesitated a moment at the entrance, removing hats, stashing gloves in pockets, and unzipping coats before grabbing their shopping lists and heading down the aisles. The situation then reversed itself once they passed through the checkout lanes and donned their winter garb and prepared to head out into the cold once more.
The process seemed to take longer than usual for one elderly female shopper who came through my line that winter's day. Her order processed. Then I was surprised to see her lingering in my lane, fumbling in her pockets and looking about with a worried look on her face. Eventually she asked, "Have you seen my missing red glove?"
There was no sign of it at the register, so she reluctantly moved in the direction of the exit door. People leave belongings behind on a regular basis, and this missing item was likewise no big deal -- she'd either find it somewhere or get herself another pair.
But instead of leaving, the woman remained, circling the checkout area, obviously concerned. The next time I saw her she told me she had walked the whole store, repeatedly retracing her steps to see if she might have dropped her glove.
Finally realizing there was more to her troubled heart than just a lost item of clothing, I listened as she told me the gloves were a gift from her sister who had since passed on. "They are simply irreplaceable," she said.
Suddenly my heart connected to her problem and I started looking for that glove almost as determinedly as she. I searched through her grocery bags in case she had accidentally dropped it in one. I gently urged her to check her coat pockets one more time. Then I circled my register a couple of times, my eyes scanning all the nooks and crannies on the floor where an item might have been dropped and inadvertently kicked out of sight. No luck. I suggested she leave her name and number at the front desk so the store could contact her if the glove was found and turned in. Despondent, she turned to go and I went back to work, but my mind stayed on that woman and her distress over the missing connection with her departed sister.
A short time later I had a few minutes to spare while nobody was in my line. I realized that, while I could do little else to help her, I could pray. In recent weeks God had been building my faith with many answered prayers, and I firmly believed He would show up in this situation as well. So I lifted a simple request in faith, affirming my belief that He knew where the missing glove was and asking that He direct her to it. I smiled to myself as I realized it was just the sort of situation He specializes in, after all -- finding that which is lost and healing broken hearts.
Ten minutes later my white-haired friend was back, a huge grin on her face and her hand madly flapping a red glove in my direction.
"I found it! I found it!" she called. She'd decided to take one more tour around the store and found the glove at last, lying on the edge of the meat counter where someone must have put it. We rejoiced together and I watched as she finally exited the store, her step lighter and her heart happy once more.
I expected God to find her lost glove, but as usual He did more than that. It turned out that more than just a glove was missing. I had clearly lost my focus on why I stood behind that register in the first place. He reminded me that He places me in all my situations each day deliberately, to be a conduit through which His love flows to the people around me. I needed the reminder to be about my Father's business even in my place of business, as well as in my home, my car... and in all the hidden corners of my life where His desires might have been dropped and absently kicked out of sight by the seemingly more pressing problems of the day.
I worked the rest of that shift with a totally different attitude, believing God sent that woman to the store not for groceries, but for me. She may have found her lost glove, but I found my missing purpose.
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