Monday, February 3, 2014

Shopping Carts

So, it is raining.
Again.
I have been driving since 8:30 this morning; it is almost 5 and I am not done yet. I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and hesitate to get out of the car. I am tired.
Body tired.
Brain tired.
Heart tired
Spirit tired.

I sit looking out through the rain drops at the cars and people shuffling by. The radio is softly playing. I ease the volume up. Hoping it will overcome the fear that screams at my mind.

“He is
jealous
for me.
Loves like a hurricane.
I am a tree.
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy…” *

My mind slips along on the tender words as I gaze out of the spattered windshield.


I see him. He is old. I can’t see his face but I can see that he is slow, baggy denims and a jacket. Ball cap pulled down against the web-like threads of rain. He approaches the stand where people return their shopping cart when they cannot walk it the extra steps back to the store.

When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,”

While I am filling with the words of this song I am watching this man. The worries are shut off now and life is unfolding in front of me.

He grabs a cart. It is linked to another. But he doesn’t pull them apart. He drags them both aside and places them outside to the right of the stand. He reaches back in for two more, pulls them out and sets them to the side with the first two, careful to keep them from rolling away. I frown in wonder. Why? I see as he turns around that he is not a store employee. He is an old man, anyone’s dad, uncle, grandfather.
Why is he doing this?
He reaches for the third time into the mash of abandoned dripping carts. He pulls out a smaller one and sets it to the right.

“how great Your affections are for me.”

Uninterrupted the lyrics trickle out of the speakers.

He has the small cart secured to the side and returns to the other larger ones that he removed to the right. He begins to slowly replace them into the stand. Careful to link them all together and to insure they are safely tucked in and out of traffic. He takes his small cart and begins to steadily walk into the store. Considerably more damp than when he began.
Meticulous. Intentional. Difficult…

Why go out of your way to do something so inconvenient? In the rain? Surely no one would fault someone for being quick, maybe even a little careless in getting a silly shopping cart out. Leave it where it is. So what if it’s in the way of others. So what if you have made a jumble that someone else will have to clean up. Don’t worry about details. Do what gets you what you need.
What.

You. 

Need.

I am puzzling by this tableau I just witnessed. When my attention turns back to the radio and I am caressed by these words:

“Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.”

What is His Grace other than Deliberate Intentional Difficult Love.

Details that seem to not matter at all, matter to God. Love that is too good to be true is irrefutable by His small touch in the tender places.
Did it cost Him?
Was it inconvenient and messy?

Are you kidding?

Is love ever easy?

God held my heart for just a moment and kissed these words on it,
“I will take the time and difficulty it takes to love you”

He has loved us this way from the beginning of God. He is worthy of my trust of this love. The grace He gives is moving all the shopping carts it takes to get to me then peacefully putting everything back the way it should be.

How I long to be able to love like that. 


*David Crowder Band - How He Loves

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful. I love how God opens our eyes to the things the wants us to see. I look forward to reading more.

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    Replies
    1. Sorry. Should say "the things He wants us to see."

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  2. Thanks Jason. It's cool how He speaks through our "learning style". I am a very visual learner, haha.

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  3. Your writings bring a certain glow to the reader. I believe this radiance is the Holy Spirit touching others through your words. It is a joy to follow your blog and I look forward to more inspiration.In the future, I will wear my sunglasses....lol

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