"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." --Luke 6:38
Earlier this week, I was at the checkout at Trader Joe's and the associate asked me, as people commonly do, how my day was going so far. Most of the time I just smile and answer brightly, "Good, how about you?" regardless of how good my day has actually been. That day, however, my emotions were raw and hovering near the surface, and I just couldn't do it. I needed to be real.
So I stopped rummaging in my purse and looked up at him, took a little pause, and then said, "Well, it's been good and bad. I had an unexpected bad thing happen, and then an unexpected good thing... so it's been a little of both."
He looked about my age, so maybe he guessed from his own experience that the bad thing was somehow related to the older-kids stage of parenting, when their hurts and challenges are bigger and can't just be fixed with a band-aid or a trip to the ER for stitches. Or maybe I said something that gave a hint, I don't know.
But however it happened, we started having a vague but honest exchange about how hard it can be to be a parent, without going into specifics...and then he must have sent some kind of secret signal through the computer system because all of a sudden another Trader Joe's employee came running up with a bouquet of brightly colored flowers.
"These are for you," the guy at the checkout said, as he took the bouquet, scanned it to cancel the price, and handed it to me. "So you can be happy about the flowers, and know that we're thinking about you in all that you're going through."
It was such a small gesture, nothing that anyone would write a news article about or give someone an award for. Just an ordinary person doing the little bit of good that it was within his power to do. And while it couldn't change anything about my situation, it made me feel seen, and worthy of being given something beautiful.
It transformed that day's footprint in my memory--I've had other days that started out with bad news, but none that involved surprise flowers and words of comfort from a stranger.
Now it's up to me to keep my eyes open. What little bit of good am I in a position to do for someone today? Or what blessings might come the next time I decide to aim for a real connection in one of those grocery store type of interactions, rather than just reflexive politeness? It's hard to predict--but life usually is. I look forward to finding out.
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