Missing Wallet

Good morning,

I was at Target the other day waiting in line to check out and a slim woman about 30 years old, pretty maybe from Somalia, pulls her very full cart up next to me and I said, “Oh would you like to go ahead of me are you in a hurry?” and she says, “excuse me, my Father always told me to introduce myself, I am ( and for the life of me I cannot remember what she said her name was.) what is your name?” I told her, Teri. I was not quite sure what her objective was and she was being very polite but her shirt was red and in big white letters it said, the F word right across her chest. She went on to ask if I would watch her cart because she left her wallet in the bathroom. I said, “sure!”

She was gone awhile and I didn’t quite know what was up with her. She came back and had a white coin purse in her hand. I said, “oh, you found it I am so glad.” She said, “I started praying the minute it was missing and I knew it would be ok. Thank you so much for watching my cart” I was so surprised at her answer I said something like,” It was nothing” She said, “it was very kind a lot of people aren’t good. Give yourself credit.” My response was “Oh, I guess, It would be great if everyone knew Jesus and loved one another.” she said, “If everyone knew any God and would respect their parents it would be a good world.”

The women in front of me had this huge cart of groceries and was taking for ever so I made some small talk and asked if she had children. She had two and was married twice and thought she would be married many more times. I answered, sometimes marriage works. I have been married 40 years. She talked about her parents having a long marriage of 37 years but she didn’t like her husband. I was thinking, ok maybe I will hopefully start checking out and get on my way. As I was ready to leave she says, “goodbye Teri.”

The whole encounter was so strange. She was not what I originally thought when I saw her shirt and her introducing herself. I never dreamed she would say she prayed the minute she lost her wallet and she remembered my name. It made me think about two things. One: we judge people sometimes before we know anything about them. Second: as a Christian do we sometimes send mixed signals that our actions don’t line up with our christian walk? Wearing a shirt at Target at 9:00am with F word is not the normal thing a bunch of Moms are wearing. I don’t know her trials but clearly she has them. Do we contradict our faith? Maybe it is not a shirt we wear but are we critical, gossip, rude to people, etc…She made me want to do better and honestly I found so many positive things in those 10 minutes.

Judgmental thoughts come from a negative mind–a mind that thinks about what is wrong with someone instead of what is right. I encourage you and me to learn to be positive and not negative. Others will appreciate your upbeat attitude, but you and I will benefit more than anyone!

Love you, Teri

Romans 2:1 teaches us that the things we judge in other people are the very things we do ourselves.