Grocery stores, arrows and God

Grocery stores, arrows and God

You have too many thoughts in your head so, of course, you’re not paying attention to all that is in front of you. After all, it is a grocery store, a place you visit regularly. Oh, sure, a promo here or there may have changed. There inside the front doors, fresh-cut flowers may have been moved from one side of an aisle to another, or a seasonal display stands out prominently, but the store you know as a store is just a store, right?

Wrong.

Yes. You’ve noticed it, too. Or, like me, you’ve been called on it.

“Um, sir,” the polite voice comes from the polite-looking grocery store employee. “You can’t go that way.”

Either the polite-sounding and polite-looking grocery store employee looks down or you do, but yes, behold, splayed across the tiled floor are semi-permanent directional arrows. One points this way. Another points that way.

Welcome to our Corona Virus world and its staying power through at least the end of our summer.

Before I go further, let’s commend all employees in this vital line of work of grocery marketing for us. Yes, God bless them truly and completely. For helping us with what we need, they are to be thanked, valued, and appreciated for doing what they do to keep us safe.

Someone say, “Amen.”

I don’t know about you, but as I follow these arrows up one row and down another, I think about God. Specifically, I think about how God directs us, or, more specifically, how God wants to direct us. When we have those Big Decisions, those life-changing challenges, we who are in the faith invariably look to the heavens and wonder as we wait. “Okay, God, WHAT are You doing? What am I to do?”

At times like these (and even when we are not moving from the chip and pretzel aisle to the pet food aisle), the best way to hear God is by knowing Him through His Word, which is the lamp onto our feet (Psalm 119:105).

When it comes to directions, 2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds us to walk by faith, not sight. Many of us turn to God in situations of need, but imagine—or live even further into—a relationship where our attention is not on what God can give, but on how we can give back to glorify God.

The following can help us with directions. One of the greatest calls God asks is give back for the sake of others. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Matthew 22 also mentions Jesus who gives two commandments that summarize the laws and commands in Scripture, one being to love your neighbor as yourself. This kind of love is free of selfishness and expectation. When we use our blessings to love and help others, we are advancing God’s kingdom on earth. Maybe offering direction to others is all the direction we need. Maybe helping—loving—others will give us direction (and purpose) in our lives. I wrote recently in a prayer that, in the story of humankind, there can be more than one Good Samaritan.

Love others. Help others. This may guide us far more than following arrows on grocery store floors. It gives us the opportunity to speak for God who, using others, will also speak words of direction to us.