"Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love." Ephesians 4:2
Yesterday I was at Wal-Mart and rolled my cart up to the check out. I noticed that the cashier and the customer in front of me didn’t say much. Letting it slide I started putting my groceries on the belt. I didn’t have much and I was thinking about how much I just wanted to get home. The other customer left and it was my turn. I was still putting items on the belt and I heard the cashier start to ring my stuff up.
“What no ‘hello’?” I thought! I mean this is the South where cashiers talk to customers like they are old friends. I was tempted to be annoyed that this Wal-Mart cashier’s silence. Then I looked at her. She looked exhausted. She was an older woman and she leaned on the counter as if her feet were killing her.
I decided to put on my best smile and try to be as cheerful and pleasant as I could be. I felt she needed a kind customer much more than I needed a cashier who said “hello”. There still wasn’t much conversation, this Northern still finds it hard to start conversations with total strangers, but I smiled and spoke kindly to her at the end of the interaction.
I needed a reminder to be patient with others and to not focus on their faults, but rather to be gentle and loving towards them.
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