Be Ye Kind

Yesterday I made a trip to the brand spanking new grocery story in the town just up the interstate. It's a bigger, fancier replacement store for the one where I often did my weekly grocery shopping. I picked up the three items I needed. Tossed a few BOGO (buy one, get one free) deals into the cart. Then I backtracked to get a pack of slider rolls in the bakery/deli section.

The grand opening was only a few days ago, so they still had several food sampling stations set up. I bypassed a couple of them but then I saw one that was too good to skip. The plate of samples looked like a plate you might have at a party. It was loaded with goodies. I walked on to find the rolls for dinner and came back to get a plate of the party foods.

When I came back the lady was preparing a plate for another customer. I wasn't in a hurry so I stood a few steps away and waited. She was carefully telling him about each item as she placed it on the small white plate. Another man stopped and realized this was going to take too long and moved on. I waited. And watched. "Sir, have you ever had brie?" He shook his head no.

She told him about that cheese and how it was prepared with the apricot topping. She explained how you pronounce muenster cheese and told him that her son called it "monster cheese" when he was little.  She added the several meats and said that one was a new turkey item, flavored slightly with curry. And finally she dipped a fresh strawberry dipped into chocolate dessert hummus. Yes, this was quite the sample plate!

When the plate was full, she handed it to him and he thanked her politely. Then he shuffled down the next aisle. He was in his mid-40s, wearing a jacket a size or two too large for him. His frayed jeans were not a fashion choice. They were just that worn. He didn't look like this store's typical customers.

As the man walked away, the food demonstrator, who was wearing the required apron and hairnet, watched him for a couple of seconds and said quietly, "That was a child of God." Then she turned to me and apologized that I had to wait. And she repeated, "That was a child of God."

I told her that I was in no hurry and that I had appreciated watching her work with such patience.  Another lady who had walked up midway through echoed my reply. The food demonstrator went right back to work making plates for us. Before she started telling us about the meats and cheeses she said, "I am a woman of faith and I know I am here to do this." 

She didn't mean she was there to hand out plates of deli meat samples to folks who probably buy that brand anyway. She was there to be kind. She was there to recognize the dignity in each shopper. She was there to treat everyone who passed her way with the same respect. This was such a sermon. More powerful than many I've listened to from a pew. She simply lived her faith.

When I was about three, same age that Baby Girl is now, the very first Bible verse I learned in Sunday school was "be ye kind." We would put our little hands together, then open them like a book and say, "I open my Bible book and read...be ye kind." A year or so later, we added a few more words. "Be ye kind one to another."

And this store employee did exactly that. Goodness knows this world could use more kindness.

Ephesians 4:32

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
King James Version (KJV)