The Gift Of Groceries

The Gift of Groceries

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:9

It was years ago that our friend, then a young youth pastor, stood in the checkout lane of his local grocery store. His cart was filled with diapers, formula, and baby food for his twin sons, and he sighed internally as he did the math. He and his wife were struggling financially, and, while diapers and formula were important, they were not what he wanted to spend their hard-earned money on.

The gentleman in front of him in line interrupted his thoughts when he told the store clerk that he would be paying for my friend’s groceries. He saw what the youth pastor was buying, and he wanted to help out. This man refused to identify himself, and once the transaction was complete, he quietly slipped away.

As our families sat around the dinner table listening to the story being recounted more than a decade later, our friend ended by saying, “Someday, I will buy someone’s groceries and pay that forward.”

What I wanted to say, and should have said in response, was that his family has paid that kindness forward a thousand times over. Their family strives to live out the New Testament’s command to love God and love others. Their home is constantly filled with neighborhood children, their twins’ teenage friends, and a whole host of people who ebb and flow through their lives. They are generous with their time and their resources. While life gets chaotic, the peace of God permeates their home and their souls. You cannot help but feel that peace when you sit in conversation with our friends.

There is no question that they strive to put into practice what they’ve seen and heard about first-century Christians in the New Testament. They practice living as Christ has called all of us to live. The result is peace in the midst of chaos and a calmness in their souls that calms those around them.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

The next time you’re at the grocery store, consider quietly purchasing someone else’s groceries. You never know how it might bless them.