Patience Grasshopper

Have you ever seen yourself in public? Were you proud or embarrassed?

Like many things in life you have to know yourself. First you have to get to a point where you can honestly assess yourself and your good and bad points. Then be willing to admit where you are good and where you need to improve. I know lots of people who can’t / won’t get past this stage.

I witnessed two situations in the last few weeks where I saw myself as I used to be.

#1 – I was in line in a convenience store and the guy ahead of me was rung up and he asked the young clerk what he owed. She didn’t speak but pointed at the screen to indicate the amount. He didn’t understand and asked again what he owed and she pointed again at the screen. I said to him that the amount was on the screen.

He then said to the clerk why didn’t you tell me what I owed instead of pointing. She said something inaudible to me and he immediately stepped aside and began apologizing over and over. While she processed my items he continued to apologize.

#2 – During the same week I was in a department store in the evening where I noticed a number of people in line to check out as I approached the check out area. I picked a line and started to watch to see if any other check out areas were being opened up so I could move to a different line to shorten my wait. This store will add and subtract clerks, as the customer load requires.

The guy ahead of me in line acted impatiently and began to move around to see if another area was open and when he realized it wasn’t he came back in line. I let him get back where he was as I sensed he was a little upset.

As he was moving back to his spot in line he looked at me and said something like this is ridiculous. Can you believe this? I didn’t say anything.

I did think that in both cases I used to be like both of these guys and in many cases worse. Since I have tried to be more like Christ and have asked him to help me to be like him I don’t have as many instances similar to those above like I used to.

And I am a lot happier!