She’s as Cold as Ice
The other night I was getting in line at the 7-11, there was a man buying beer and another man standing very close behind him balancing a bag of ice at the cashier closest to me. When the next cashier opened her register further past these guys, I started to go around them; assuming the man with the ice was with the man with the beer. As I did this, the man with the ice grabbed the large bag and practically shoved me out of the way to get to the cashier before me. I mumbled my surprise that he was in line and not with the man with the beer to let him know I wasn’t trying to be rude…
EVEN THOUGH HE WAS! I was so angry this man nearly knocked me out of the way so he could pay for his bag of ice instead of saying, “Excuse me.” As the man with the beer moved on out the door, I moved up next to the man with the ice noticing he was handing the woman behind the counter a $100 bill for his order totally $4.63. As the woman helping me rang my order I heard something inside nudge, Buy his ice. I emphatically did not want to buy this man’s ice. He was rude, he pushed me, and he’s silly for trying to buy ice with a $100 bill for a purchase less than five dollars at a 7-11. Come on, really? And stronger still I hear, Seriously, buy his ice.
I took a deep breath and told the woman to ring his ice up on mine and I’d pay for it, much to the relief of the other cashier trying to figure out how to get this man to understand. As I paid, the man expressed his appreciation. He obviously wasn’t used to someone doing something nice for him as he even said, “You sure put a smile on my face.” I mumbled a, “No problem, “ and started to walk out. The man who pushed me out of the way, now held the door for me and said, “You know, I’da prolly done the same sh!t.” I offered him a weak smile as I turned to the car very much doubting that but thinking, But now, maybe you will!
And there lies the lesson. My obedience was important because it’s how you love your enemies. It’s how we submit to the will of the Holy Spirit in a moment when we want to burn instead of bear fruit. He became my neighbor when I acted outside of myself in love. Moving someone from enemy to neighbor perpetuates the command of Jesus to love God, yes, but to love our neighbor as ourselves - even when they don’t make it easy.
Community isn’t just a nice thing we talk about as followers of Jesus, it’s something that is a living breathing organism and like all living things, they require maintenance and work. All things start small, and buying ice is a small thing, surrendering my pride in a moment to hear the Holy Spirit and follow what he’s telling me is small, but I have it on good opinion that both that man in the 7-11 and myself were both slightly changed to be a bit more like Christ in that moment, and that is no small thing. That’s the goal, to daily tick the marker closer to being like him in every little lesson we are open to receiving.
