We live in a smallish city in South Carolina. In many ways it is exactly what you would expect from small-town America–we are a bit stuck in our ways, we move a little slower, we are a little behind the times when it comes to certain things. Now I don’t say all of this as a bad thing. Most of the time, I find these aspects of my city to be endearing, especially when I’m fighting the five-o’clock traffic that can sometimes add two or three minutes to my commute (yes, for those of you living in large cities, you read that right!).
However, in the midst of those things that I find endearing, one thing that seems to frustrate some folks is the lack of innovation in grocery shopping. We do not have a grocery store (at least not yet) that allows you to order your groceries online and do curbside pick-up. My wife (and many of her friends), lament this regularly. But not me. I love grocery shopping.
I know this makes me a bit strange to some of you, but it is true. It is especially true during days when I have been studying behind closed doors in my office or even in a coffee shop with my ear buds in drowning out the world. Increasingly, we live in a society that works to distance itself from relationships, both significant and no so significant. In an age of facebook “friends” and online orders, I still enjoy ordering my coffee from a person and talking to strangers in the checkout line at the grocery store.
Am I old-fashioned? Maybe a bit, but even more, I find that there are real connections that can be made with real people in every day encounters. I learn how I can pray for my barista, I invite store clerks to church, and I keep up with the college progress of the guy ringing up my groceries. Just yesterday, I even had the opportunity to pray with a homeless lady struggling with addiction and introduce her to the barista in a coffee shop.
God created us as relational beings, and I tend to believe that there is still good to be found in handshakes and smiles. In fact, smiling has become one of my mission goals in the grocery store. Studies tell us that people are lonelier than ever and are increasingly isolated and unhappy. As a follower of Christ, I have much for which to be thankful, so I make sure that when I walk through the grocery store, I do so with the cheesiest smile you can imagine. Why? Because I think that maybe someone there needs to see a happy face, and it is the least I can do and because as a Christian, joy should be my default. I want people to see the pastor (in a small town most people know that I’m a pastor) filled with joy rather than frustration.
In defense of my wife and all the other moms out there, they aren’t unhappy about going to the grocery store. They dread the idea of walking through the aisles filled with sugary treats with four extra sets of hands filling the shopping cart. Curbside pick-up is a blessing when four kids are in a bad mood and dinner needs to be cooked, but I want to challenge you to do better when you can. Order your coffee in person and wait the 4 or 5 minutes it takes to prepare it. Find out your your barista’s story and pray for them. Get to know the guy who always sits at the fourth table on the left, maybe he needs a friend. Introduce yourself to neighbors walking in your neighborhood and find out the name of the homeless guy on the corner. In so doing, you may just be the Jesus that the world around you needs.
In a world of convenience, people and relationships can feel like an inconvenience, but when people are a burden to be overcome, perhaps we should ask just how human we have ceased to be.
Thank you for this article. For us Christians, going out in public shouldn’t be an inconvenience. The world is our mission field! Who knows, if today God will lead us to someone with whom we can share the Good News or some ways encourage someone? We can make such a difference out there! We who are Christ’s, should look for ways to reach out and engage and not find ways to conform to the world’s every convenience thus isolate ourselves into our comfort zone. It’s very rewarding to do things “old school” and cultivate relationships.