Saturday, October 11, 2008

Shopping carts

I don't know if you have ever watched Joyce Meyer and heard her talk about shopping carts. She often uses the example of putting your shopping cart back in the stall at the grocery store as an example of discipline. Why would God trust you with the big things if you can't take care of the little things? If you use it put it back. It's pretty simple, good example for your kids. It was a good reminder for me and it is something that I always do. I usually put my girls in the vehicle and then unload the cart. Lock the vehicle and put the cart back where it belongs. I usually park right beside a cart holder place so that I am not very far from my girls.

Anyway, this is leading up to a story. The other day I am at Walmart. I find a nice spot and park. I noticed that there were carts scattered everywhere. Every place in town is short staffed so I am not blaming the Walmart employees. I am thinking about all the people who didn't take the 2 seconds to put their cart away when they were parked right beside the place where they need to go. (What is that called anyway?) Back to the story. As I am grabbing my purse to go shopping I notice a big red truck pulling in across from me. As he pulls in he hits a cart and sends it sailing toward my vehicle. So I hop out and run around to the other side to grab this cart before it leaves a nice blue smear on my vehicle. I also notice a man coming from another direction about to stop it as well, I thank him for making the effort to protect my vehicle. Luckily I was able to get there on time and I grab it and take it over and put it away, while the man in the big red truck is giving me dirty looks.

As all of this is happening there are a couple other women with small children who were just loading their vehicles to leave. The one Mom put everything away along with her cart. The other Mom dumped a bunch of her garbage on the ground and then got in her vehicle and started to drive away. Since she was parked beside me and she left her cart behind I figured I should put that one away as well so that if it got hit in the parking process that I wouldn't get a blue smear on that side of the vehicle. As I grab her cart to put it away, she starts glaring at me as she drives away.

Well, that gave me a lot to think about on my journey through the aisles of Walmart. I wasn't trying to make these people feel bad by putting the carts away. It didn't really put me out to walk a few steps to put the carts away. I'm not trying to be the moral police, which I am known to be every once in a while. :) The way I look at, Walmart is nice enough to lend me a cart to make my shopping experience easier, the least I can do is put it away.

So why is it these little things tend to be overlooked so much? I think about the woman who dumped her garbage on the ground and left her cart and drove away. What example did she make for her children that were in the vehicle watching her? After having children of my own, I know on a whole new level how my actions affect them and the choices that they make. Do I want them to contribute to society in a positive or negative way? I set the example for that.

I am seeing a theme here from my last entry. Gee, maybe God is trying to teach me something? Actually, when isn't He trying to teach me something. :)

I also thought about the other Mom that was loading her vehicle, did she put her cart away because she saw what I was doing? Or maybe she regularly puts her cart away. I hope that I may have been a positive example to my little audience in the parking lot that day. It only takes a couple of seconds to save vehicles from blue smears, and to be a positive example to your children of the little things. That really do add up.

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