I was at the grocery store yesterday afternoon picking up a few things for dinner. I had two large containers of lettuce, some fresh guacamole, corn tortillas, two jars of salsa … and on a whim I had picked up 4 adorable little sauce dipping dishes.
I arrived at self-checkout and began scanning my items.
But the small shelf upon which to place scanned items wasn’t quite big enough for my two large containers of lettuce … let alone everything else.
I was being so careful to watch out for the adorable little sauce dipping dishes (I wouldn’t want those to accidentally fall off and break on the floor!) … that I was not paying close enough attention to the glass jars of salsa.
I was almost done scanning everything, and had reached for the last item in my cart (a bunch of bananas) … when the container of lettuce shifted and slid a bit on the little shelf … causing, in turn, the glass jar of salsa (which was sitting precariously on the edge) to fall off and crash onto the floor!
I let out a high-pitched yelp! … at the same time as the glass jar of salsa smashed onto the concrete floor! Just imagine the sound of glass breaking on a concrete floor.
Instantly everything went quiet up at the front of the grocery store. And in that quiet moment you could hear someone breathe: “Uh Oh!”
The next thing I heard was the self-check worker calling for Clean-Up.
I could feel all eyes on me! It was so embarrassing!!
My “blink” reaction had noticed, in that frozen moment of time, that the jar of smashed salsa had landed right at the feet of someone wearing thick sturdy rubber yellow rain boots. Reassured that the thick sturdy rubber boots had protected that person, I finished scanning the bunch of bananas I still held in my hand.
As I placed the bananas on the floor (since there was obviously no room on the small shelf for anything else!) I realized that it was a little 5-year old girl who was wearing the yellow rain boots! She had been calmly standing there next to her daddy when suddenly she was put in the spotlight.
I knelt on the ground next to her asking her if she was ok and apologizing profusely. She clearly didn’t like all the attention any more than me.
I felt hot and flushed with embarrassment as I stood and proceeded to pay for my items. I could still feel all eyes on me!
And in that moment, as I was trying to pay for my items, Satan decided to have a conversation with me in my head. Though come to think of it, I don’t think it was actually Satan himself. Satan can’t be everywhere at the same time like God can. And I’m sure Satan has much more important things going on right now. So it was probably just a demon. Whatever the case, it most certainly was not the Holy Spirit.
So there I am trying to pay for my items and a voice in my head says: “You shouldn’t have to pay for that jar of salsa.”
I respond in my head: “But I’m the one who dropped it. It was my fault.”
The voice in my head counters: “But you weren’t out of the store yet. You should make the store pay for it.”
I continue to argue with the voice in my head: “That’s the dumbest thing ever! If I was at home and dropped it on the concrete floor of my garage I wouldn’t have anybody else to blame for it and make pay for it.”
By now the self-check had processed my payment and spit the receipt out. I stuffed the receipt in my purse and turned back to the grocery cart to get my reusable shopping bags which I had brought. There, on the far back side of the grocery cart was a bag of expensive gluten-free flour replacement which I had accidentally missed in all the confusion.
The voice popped up in my head: “You don’t need to pay for that ‘flour’ because it can off-set the cost of the salsa which you already paid for but don’t actually get.”
I responded: “Seriously!?!”
The voice replied: “Nobody would know. It’s hidden back there on the far side of the cart.”
I responded: “Of course people would know! Everyone is watching me!”
In that moment the voice disappeared, and I suddenly became acutely aware of all the eyes on me, watching to see if I would walk off with that bag of ‘flour’ which I had accidentally missed.
It was very obvious that I had just paid for my groceries. And it was also very obvious that I had accidentally missed the bag of flour on the back of the cart.
I proceeded to load my purchases into the two reusable shopping bags (since that is what I was already doing). I could feel the burning of all those eyes watching to see how I would respond.
I loaded my two reusable shopping bags into the cart and stood up. I could feel the next person waiting in the self-check line thinking: “Finally! It’s about time!”
But instead of walking out, I got my wallet back out and scanned my rewards card. Then I grabbed the forgotten bag of ‘flour’ and scanned it. I could feel the next person waiting in the self-check line thinking: “Seriously!?! Leave already so I can have your spot!”
But also, at the same time, I could feel a lot of utter shock and surprise!
I don’t know who was watching (I didn’t raise my eyes to see) … but lots of people were watching to see how I would respond!
The self-check machine processed my second payment and spit the receipt out. I stuffed it in my purse and turned to leave.
As I wheeled my cart past the self-check worker, she was so kind to me!! It really surprised me! She thanked me so much and wished me to have a good day. I didn’t quite understand why she was so kind to me, when I had just made a huge mess in self-check, and had created a big scene.
But as I headed for the exit door it suddenly dawned on me – the self-check worker had also noticed that I had accidentally forgotten to scan the forgotten bag of ‘flour’ on the back of the cart! And she too had been watching to see how I would respond!
You never know who is watching!
And be assured, someone is always watching!
When life happens, and things in your life wind up accidentally falling and shattering on the floor … perhaps your hopes and dreams wind up “shattered on the floor” … or things you worked so hard to build or achieve wind up “shattered on the floor” … how will you respond??
Be assured … someone is watching!
Very likely lots of someone’s are watching!
