Yesterday I had one of the strangest conversations of my life. I was at work completing the tedious task of re-pricing clearance items when a cute elderly woman walked up to me. At first I thought she was about to ask me a question-perhaps the location of a certain novel or where she could check out her purchases-but instead she simply began browsing the items on the cart I was marking down.I momentarily examined her out of the corner of my eye; small, feeble, and wrinkly. Her face was lined with the signs of age and experience, but despite her obvious number of years her eyes shown bright with the life of a lively soul.
Her gaze fell upon a desirable item. With her hand shaking, the woman reached out to pick up a small stuffed animal.
'I like this fox'.
I asked her if foxes were favorite animal. No, she replied. She simply liked them. Amused, I smiled. As elderly people will often do, she began to tell of a story from her past. As she spoke, I simply listened. She told me that her parents had owned a fox during the early years of their marriage before she was born. Growing up she had been given toy foxes, and she hadn't owned one in years. Seeing the one right in front of her ignited feelings of nostalgia and comfort as it brought back memories of her parents and fond times she'd had with them.
As she told her story, I sensed that she had lost awareness of my presence. Being lost in the moment, she reached a point of telling the story more for herself than for anyone listening, which was fine. I was entranced simply listening to her.
Suddenly, she returned to reality.
Then came the strangest sentence I've ever heard anyone pronounce:
'Once I thought about owning a pet skunk, but when I went to look at it I saw that it had not been defumed'.
I'm sorry-what?
Before I had time to sort out what the hell she had just said, she had moved on to a different sentence-a different thought altogether-and the moment was gone. Just like that. She was now considering purchasing a set of glitter highlighters that I had stickered as 50% off the original price, ringing in at just under $1.25.
(Yes, you read that correctly-I work at a place that sells glitter highlighters. We're cool; we know).
'I don't need these. I do want them, though. Everyone needs a little glitter in their life, right?'
Yes m'am, indeed they do. Whatever that means.
We all need a little glitter. A little sunshine. A little hope. A little Jesus.
I wondered if she knew her odd tidbits of conversation actually contained deep-seated truth.
As I scanned her items, she reached out her hand and beckoned me to lean toward her. A bit confused, I did, and she kissed me on the cheek.
These simple words melted my heart: 'You've been the best helper to me today. God bless you'.
She bought the highlighters if for no other reason than to add a little bit of glitter to her life and walked out the door, singing a song to herself along the way as old people tend to do.
Times like these are what make my job a cut above the rest. Interacting with the sorts of people that walk through our doors teaches me something new every day. Today's lesson was about the Gospel; it's even in the little things. Perhaps this is exactly what Richard Beck is describing in his blog post, The Great Soda Caper, as he describes how weird it is to follow Jesus sometimes-if not all of the time. It often will take you to odd and unexpected places.
Sometimes it's about the big things-the teaching of good theology, the worship of thousands of college students, or the work of a large ministry to feed multiple hungry people.
Sometimes Jesus will take you there, to those places. Not always. More often than not following Jesus means finding yourself among the little things-like listening to an old woman ramble on about a defumed skunk (let me know when you figure out what that means, exactly) or debate whether or not she needs glittery highlighters in her life. Her words were seemingly meaningless, except that they brought me joy. They were full of simplicity. She spoke with innocence from a pure and precious spirit.
All I had to do was smile and listen.
At it's core, following Jesus means loving people where you're at-where they're at.
This is love.
