A Trip to the Grocery Store

With list in hand, off I went yesterday morning to the grocery store.  With holiday baking and family coming for the holidays and trying to get a head start on what I'll need for Christmas dinner, it was a much longer list than usual.

In any event, off I went to the store. 

As I was driving toward town, I glanced in my rear view mirror and noticed the girl in the car behind me.  She was holding her phone in one hand and gesturing enthusiastically with the other hand as she talked.  That made me wonder which hand she was using to actually steer the car.

I made it safely to the store and parked my car in my usual spot.  (That's a story for another day.)  I used my gift card to purchase a latte, since I noticed that there was someone working who actually knows how to make coffee!  (That isn't always the case.  Also a story for another day.)

Then, with my coffee cup in hand (well, in my cart's cup holder!), I began to make my rounds through the store.  I made it through produce and baked goods without incident.  Then I started down the bread, cookies, and potato chips aisle.  All I really needed on that aisle was some potato chips.  A bigger challenge than one might expect.  The potato chip man was stocking the shelves.  In the middle of a Friday morning!  Really?  Is there no other time shelves can be stocked?

The potato chip man had the aisle almost completely blocked with his boxes of chips.  There was one little pathway between the boxes to get down the aisle, but the potato chip man was standing in that space, putting chips on the shelves.  And singing.  At the top of his lungs.  And he wasn't singing a Christmas song.  At least that would have been seasonally appropriate.  No, he apparently thought he was Willie Nelson. 

There was the potato chip man, singing Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.  At the top of his lungs.  Completely oblivious to anyone around him.  Even a slightly-past-middle-aged woman just trying to get down the aisle in the grocery store.

The rest of my shopping experience was quite uneventful.  However, when I got home I learned that there had been an attempted kidnapping in the parking lot of that very store the day before.  Glad I didn't know that while I was there.  Although it isn't very likely that a slightly-past-middle-aged woman would be at the top of a kidnapper's wish list!

In any event, I'm thankful to have made it safely there and back home again.  And thankful for the smile that potato chip man brought to my face.  I hope some of the other people in that store passed down that aisle.  Maybe he could have brought a smile to their faces.  Some of them could have used one!

What does all this have to do with Christmas?  Nothing, really.  But it gave me a good giggle as I made my way through the rest of the store.

And it's a reminder that there are a lot of people out there who need a smile.  Or some encouragement.  Who need a little Christmas.

It's also a reminder that we who have good tidings of great joy should be about the business of spreading those good tidings.  Of spreading some Christmas cheer.

Because the Christmas message is not one to be held on to, but to be shared. 

With family and friends.  And neighbors.  And strangers in the grocery store.  And with the world.

"And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'"  (Luke 2:10-11 ESV)


Listen to Glad Tidings of Great Joy here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsTuctAP7zY