Let Others See Jesus in You at the Food Lion...

Let Others See Jesus In You at the Food Lion...
Sometimes God sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Yesterday God showed up for me as I was leaving Food Lion and my heart shattered as I came face to face with God incarnate.
Megan and the boys had just left for their home after a visit on the farm. The larder was bare so I was grocery shopping for the basics... bread, milk, eggs. It was five o’clock, not the usual time I go to the grocery, and the store was full of folks on their way home after work. Moms were rushing through the aisles followed by children begging for sugar coated cereal. Men and women were standing in front of the frozen vegetable case trying to decide which one to choose. Hustle and bustle pervaded the store... rush hour for food.
I made my way to the check out line and began unloading the cart. A short, dumpy Hispanic woman held out two items and asked in broken English if she could break in front of me. I smiled and said yes. And as so often happens when you are trying to be a good Christian, it backfires on you. One of her two items price was mislabeled and had to be checked out. We stood and waited, she smiling in embarrassment and me smiling in spite of myself. Eventually it was sorted out and my turn came to be checked out.
As I was pushing my cart through the doors, an old man was coming into the store. His once tall body was bent and bowed. He caught my eye because he was wearing ironed overalls, once a common sight in the rural south. His ball cap was set firmly on his head and he wore serviceable sturdy black shoes. As I was looking at him, he looked up. I smiled and he smiled back, such a sweet smile. I wondered if he was buying food for supper for himself, or a wife who could no longer come to the store. Such a short interchange, a wordless recognition of one another’s presence, an affirmation of our connection in the front door of the Food Lion... I wanted to stop and talk to him, find out his story, know a little piece of the man behind the sweet smile. I wondered what I would look like in twenty years at eighty two. Would I be able to go to the Food Lion to shop and would anyone would smile at me?
I pushed my cart through the doors on to the sidewalk, moving over to let a woman pass me. She was followed by her daughter, a young woman with Downs Syndrome. Since our family has been inducted into the world of children with special challenges, I respond differently to these children now. The young woman was dressed nicely, her hair done and wearing make up. As we passed each other, I smiled at her, on purpose, and caught her by surprise. I wonder if she was used to being looked over, passed by without recognition. She tried to smile back but her embarrassment was evident. Her challenges are easily recognized because of her facial features. Mine are not as easily seen because they are masked by the appearance of normality. Yet I suspect she and I have much in common were we able to know one another.
For that moment in time, I felt the power of the presence of God as I smiled and was connected to those two very different children of God. The overwhelming painful compassion that swept through my soul brought tears to my eyes as I walked to the car. My heart was tender and my soul was soft as I let my self become part of their worlds. Compassion, from the Latin compati... to suffer with... God loved us enough to come into our world, to suffer with us, to feel our hurts and losses. In the gospel of Mark we read , “As Jesus went ashore, he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd...” We all are sheep without a shepherd. Old men, young women, children and the rest of us, waiting for the smile and the voice of the Shepherd to gather us in. I hope the old man and young woman at Food Lion yesterday saw Jesus’ smile in my smile. I hope they felt the warmth of the Great Shepherd’s love as we passed by one another on the way to the rest of our lives. I did.