Letting someone go ahead of you in line at the grocery or department store has purpose beyond simply being kind. Sure, it may help that person out (especially if it's a mother with young needy kids). But it's actually a simple act in helping you.
In his book The Life You've Always Wanted, John Ortberg talks about a thing called "Hurry Sickness." It's something all of us Americans (and others around the world) have. A belief that hurrying will buy us more time.
The opposite is actually true: "Hurrying will keep us consumed by 'the cares and riches and pleasures of life,' as Jesus put it, and prevent his way from taking root in our hearts."
By rushing to save time, we bypass many opportunities to help others and to be a servant. We become too focused on our own lives and our own gain. We miss the point of why we're here. We miss communion with the Father and with those around us that we're supposed to be bringing to Him.
So, why let someone go ahead of you in line?
Because that is one place, according to John, we know we have hurry sickness.
At a grocery store, if we have a choice between two check-out lines, we find ourselves counting how many people are in each line, multiplying this number by the number of items per cart. If we have a really bad case of hurry sickness, then even after we get in line we keep track of the person who would have been me in the other line. If we get through and the person would have been me is still waiting, we are elated. We've won. But if the alter-me is walking out of the store and we're still in line, we feel depressed. We have hurry sickness.We all do it to some extent. We all have hurry sickness to some extent. And random acts of kindness--especially ones that help us slow enough to see the needs around us and help someone--is an essential step to curing the sickness. To becoming more Christ-like. To shining brighter for Him.
Every Wednesday, Cheri from I Am Momma Hear Me Roar encourages her readers to participate in a challenge to do a good deed. She shares her own experiences on each challenge in her Wake Up Wednesday posts.
I asked her about letting our lights shine, and how we can do that through random acts of kindness.
Here is Cheri's response...
There are endless ways to shine. I think we just have to believe that we are capable of doing so.
On my blog, I do a weekly post on Wednesdays, encouraging others to do something good. It helps me think outside of myself and set a goal to help someone else. My favorite ones are the ones I do with my kids because it's even more meaningful to teach them to do good. We've visited nursing homes, picked up trash, complimented strangers, brought flowers to widows on Valentine's day, and made cards for veterans. The unexpected visits or gifts are always so fun to do. <<
