She Just Loves People

My daughter and I were in Walmart standing in the check out line.  We were playing one of our favorite games, the one where I put on my sunglasses, wait for her to break into a huge smile, then lean down so she can take them off my face.    

As we were playing a woman walked through the line and stood right behind me, as in RIGHT behind me. She was a little old lady who wore her sunglasses indoors and walked with a cane.  My first thought was that she was trying to pick pocket me.  (I've been pick pocketed before and was truly amazed at how they got away with it so undetected.)  Therefore, I kept a reasonable distance and struck up a conversation. 

I noticed she didn't have any items to purchase and, since we were in the cigarette line, assumed she was just there to pick up her smokes.  I had quite a bit in my cart and offered to let her go ahead of me.  She took me up on the offer, purchased over $100 worth of cigarettes and then left.    

I began placing my merchandise on the belt, all the while mentally chastising her for spending so much on cigarettes.  "That's what's wrong with the world today.  People don't have any money and they blow it on stuff they don't need.  She's probably living off the government just so she can buy a zillion dollars worth of cigarettes each week!"  (I just don't know what the world would do without me judging it all the time.  I'm a real sweetheart.)

In the middle of my mental chastisement, I noticed she came back through the line, threw some cash down by the cashier and left.  Well that really sent my mind reeling!  I naturally assumed there was some sort of shady business going on and that she was paying off the cashier to be part of it.  

Before I could get it all worked out in my head the cashier handed me a receipt.  

"I didn't pay," I said.

"She paid for you," the cashier replied.

"Who?"

"That lady just paid for you."

"Why?" I asked, stunned.

"She just loves people."

Speechless, we left.  

She just loves people.  

The woman I had been in the process of condemning had just footed my Walmart bill.  

Why?

Because she loves people.

What a wonderful thing to be known for!  Someone who loves people.

It got me thinking, if I could leave this life with the same legacy, to be known as a person who loves people, I would feel it was a life well lived.  To hear from God, "You loved people well, and in doing so, you loved me well."  What an honor.  What a lesson spoken to me at a time when I was being so judgmental.

Over the past few years God has done a work in my heart to help me see people the way he sees them. My eyes will lock in on a person and I'll think, "They are a person of value.  They are a person of great value.  They are worth dying for.  Jesus died for them."  It's a recording that plays on repeat in my mind.  

Yet, so very often I forget.  Instead, my thoughts are ugly.  

He's a slob.

They're lazy.

She's clearly trying too hard.

She's prettier than me.

She's thinner than me.

They're driving too slow.

What an idiot!

Oh my clumsy, foolish self.  

I'm so glad for God's grace.  Grace that helps me to remember.  Grace that comes in the form of a little old lady who wears her sunglasses indoors, walks with a cane, smokes like a chimney, and just loves people.  A little old lady who valued me when I didn't value her.  God used her to remind me that every person has value.  Every person has great value.  They are worth dying for.  Jesus died for them.