Sisters

I am not a sports aficionado.  I never have been including the years that I played middle-school and high-school basketball.  I won't say I didn't have fun playing for my school or playing street ball when pressured into it by the neighborhood kids (it seemed I was often needed just to make the teams even), but I was never a fan of sports overall.  However, roughly a decade ago I found myself surprisingly interested in professional football for a few years before I regained my sanity.  

Just kidding sports fans!

One of those years, I planned to stay in and watch the Super Bowl alone.  I didn't feel like doing the whole Super Bowl party crowd-thing.  For the game time snack, I decided to make chili-cheese dip. Before the game began, I went to the grocery store to get all the ingredients I needed.  

After I returned home, I began to make the dip.  I started by dicing a two-pound block of Velveeta cheese.  That task was completed in a very short time.  I dumped the Velveeta cubes into the pan and covered them with an entire jar of hot salsa.  Next in would be the two cans of chili.  I reached for the can opener, and all I saw was the silver lids of the chili cans staring back up at me.  It was then that I remembered I had taken my can opener to work earlier in the week and had left it there accidentally.  There were only a few minutes, maybe fifteen minutes, before the kick-off.  It was a quick decision to return to the grocery store to pick up an old-style, hand-crank, can opener to make do.

I drove the few blocks back to the grocery store and hastily walked to where the kitchen utensils were for the can opener.  On the way to the register, I ducked down another aisle for another jar of salsa (just in case), and then I found the shortest register lane and took my place.

Just ahead of me were two young girls, sisters, that I would guess to be about 9 and 10 years of age.  The younger one was leaning on the handle of their shopping cart. The older one was hanging backwards from the front of the cart while standing on the bottom above the wheels.  Apparently their guardian had left them in line to quickly retrieve a forgotten item or two while the customer in front of them finished checking out.

The younger girl looked at me and smiled shyly, and I returned her smile.  She began to slowly pull her cart backwards.  The older sister, realizing the cart was retreating, tugged it back into place.  After a few moments, the younger sister began slowly pulling the cart backwards again, and again the older sister tugged it back.  Over the next minute, I watched the exchange escalate from a few more gentle retreats and forceful tugs to an agitated verbal exchange with a few tugs in both directions thrown in for good measure.

Just as this tug-of-war was settling down, the girls' grandmother returned from having gotten her forgotten items.  The older sister leaned in toward her and said "She was tryin' to let him cut in front of us."  In defense of herself, the younger sister said, "He only has two things."  The older sister's response was muffled to me as she mumble and turned away, but it was apparent that she wasn't going to surrender her space.

The contrast between the two girls' intentions struck me instantly.  One's quiet generosity; one's forceful steadfastness.  Neither girl was right, and neither girl was wrong.  It was just what it was.  Too often it is easy for us to immediately assume the worst of a person's actions without any evidence at all.  

Their grandmother most likely told them to stay in line while she went for those items.  Perhaps the younger sister had on her mind to show kindness while being graciously obedient, and the older sister had on her mind to be strictly obedient to her grandmother.  

While this event itself may be an insignificant tussle between sisters with opposing thoughts, it forced to the forefront of my mind the struggle that we ... that I ... face daily:  the struggle of light and dark and between thoughtfulness and dismissal.

How many times have I been in a position to give something I had to someone, but held on to it for myself.  How many times have I been in a position to show kindness to someone, but simply didn't for no other reason that I just didn't want to.  How many times have I seen someone trying to merge into traffic, and I drove past them having had plenty of time and space to just let them over?  How many times have I stood in line at a store - even that same grocery store - with a filled cart and held my place in front of someone with only a few items because I was just ready to leave?  And not one of those instances ever required any sort of real sacrifice.

From Satan's first recorded interaction with mankind, proclaiming of "you'll be like God", and Adam and Eve's fall into sin, it has been that we naturally place ourselves on the thrones of our lives.  We love ourselves selfishly by nature, and must learn to love others from Christ's examples.  

We should humbly learn to love others just as selfishly as we love ourselves.

After hearing the two girls' sides of the issue, the grandmother turned and asked if I would like to go ahead of them. They had little more in their cart than I had in my hand.  Besides, my mother raised me to be a gentleman.  I declined, but pointedly addressed the younger sister, thanking her, and telling her how very kind she was to have thought to make such an offer.  In truth, even though totally an insignificant position in a grocery store's queue, it was a privileged position for what it was.

I spent the brief few minutes while they checked out watching the behavior of the sisters. The older sister seemed to be more self absorbed in her own world, and the younger sister was quiet and observant of what was going on around her.

Ordinarily, I would not have gone back to the store for just the can opener.  I'd have brought mine home from work the following day.  I'd have either found another way to get into the cans or simply put the cheese in the refrigerator and waited until I had the can opener.  Happily, I was there at that time for an example and reminder.

I don't recall if I returned in time to watch the kick-off and opening plays.  I don't recall the half-time entertainment.  I don't recall the final score.  I don't  even remember which teams were playing in the game.  What I do remember all these years later are those two little girls and what they demonstrated.  

Obviously, I didn't leave the store as quickly as I thought I would have, but I certainly didn't leave it without praying for those two little girls and their futures.

Maybe that was really the point...


One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”  Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
(Mark 12:28-31)

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