Mostly Brave

“The most powerful way to change the world is to live in front of our children the way we would like the world to be.” – Graham White

A few nights ago, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items.  I have a messed-up meniscus and recently have started to walk with a crutch, at least until I am scheduled for surgery. So, I go into the grocery with the cart in my left hand and my crutch under my right arm.  It was an interesting situation for me to be in. But I was up for the challenge!

Making my way through the isles made me a little slower than most but I was getting by okay. I noticed a mom and her two girls next to me throughout half the store. The girls, probably around twelve and ten, would stare at me and when I would smile at them they would just continue to stare.  I thought the mom would correct her daughters for their rudeness but to my surprise she was looking at me as if my slowness was an annoyance to her. When it was time to check out she pulled her cart into the lane behind me.  It was hard to navigate the crutch, the cart, and putting all of the groceries onto the conveyor belt. Not once did she ask if I could use some help. I paid the cashier and started to move my cart out of the way, then she practically ran her cart into the back of me.

When I walked away I thought what a terrible example this mom was to her girls.  She had an opportunity to really show love in action but instead she chose to show annoyance for someone down on their luck.

I hobbled out to the parking lot, put my groceries in the car, and returned my cart to the cart corral that was just outside of the entrance of the store. As I was walking back to my car there was a young man with his wife and three daughters.  He saw that I was struggling and asked if there was anything he could do to help me. I said no but thanked him a couple of times for asking. This man was a dad that showed love in action and acted as if it was a “given” that this is how we should treat one another.

I have always told my kids that I would never judge them on what they own, who they marry, or what they do for a career, etc. but I did say that I would judge them on the way that they treat others.

My kids do help people out.  They give up their seats for the elderly, they help people bring groceries in, they will fix your car, mow your lawn, and even give their brand-new North Face jacket to a mom that is stranded in a parking lot with distress written all over her face.

In Proverbs 22:6 it says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” I had always hoped that my kids were listening to us as they were growing up, and seeing them mature into the adults that they are, my heart bursts with happiness over the kind decisions that they continue to make.  

Love. In. Action.