Two Perspectives

I had to run to my little organic market.
It is a small market in the center of town.
On this rainy day, it was a bustling place.
Not only were people shopping, but they were eating lunch at the small cafe tables.

I love the homemade soups that are served here.
I will usually get a hot cup of soup on a cold day when I am running a lot of errands.
This day, my visit was in between other things, so the aroma of the soup would have to do.
I got the various things I needed and put them in the basket I was carrying.

I enjoy going to organic markets.
Sometimes the small ones are the best.
The small markets allow you to be surrounded by flavorful food.
They also allow you to be surrounded by flavorful people.

We all have our own reasons for shopping in markets like this one.
Some shop there to support a local business.
Some shop there for the freshness of the food.
Some shop there because they want to eat clean and green.

All of those reasons pertain to me.
However, I also just simply like the market.
I really enjoy the people.
The cashiers begin to know the things we routinely buy and know the customers by name.

As I was waiting in one of the lines, I saw a young man.
He was extremely tall.
He was wearing his hat backwards on his head.
He was mindlessly swaying the basket filled with items.

He was looking down.
He never looked up.
The swaying basket was in one hand.
His phone was in the other.

He was reading and texting as he was swaying the basket.
He was expertly texting with one thumb.
Since he never lifted his head, he seemed shorter.
People were in front of him in line but he was oblivious to them.

I watched as it was his turn.
The cashier spoke to him as if to distract him from what was in his hand.
He never responded and he never looked up.
He put the items up on the wooden counter as if on autopilot.

It was my turn at the other register.
I could not see the young man finish his transaction.
He was silent the entire time; he was only paying attention to his phone.
The cashier thanked him and wished him a nice day.

He grunted.

A mother and her little girl were in front of me as I waited in line.
The little girl was looking all around.
There was a salt lamp glowing at the register.
The little girl was intrigued.

What’s that, Mommy? She asked pointing.
That’s a salt lamp, her mother answered.
Why is it here? The little girl wanted to know.
It cleans up the air that we breathe, her mother told her.

Her short answer satisfied the little girl.
Look at that, Mommy, she said pointing to a shopping sack with a sunflower on it.
Each of her questions and comments were acknowledged sweetly.
It was apparent that the little girl was tired of asking questions so she decided to dance.

She was wearing boots on this rainy day.
She loved the sound of her boots on the floor.
She looked to see if anyone was watching her.
She saw that she had me as an audience.

I smiled at her.
She twirled to show me her dancing skills.
The boots made it a bit awkward for her to twirl the way she wanted.
She decided to stomp instead.

It was not an angry stomp.
It was a country line dancing kind of stomp.
She was entertaining herself quite nicely with her twirling and stomping.
While across the way, the young man was entertaining himself on the phone.

Two perspectives.

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2-4)

Adults have so many things that distract them.
Some distractions are necessary and demand our attention.
Some distractions are self imposed.
Those self imposed distractions are robbing our joy and stealing our wonder.

Children are present in the moment.
A child will take their mother’s face in their hands and say, Listen to me, Mommy.
Loosely translated, the child is saying, Be all there for me, Mommy.
No wonder the Lord Jesus told us to be like a little child.

Jesus wants us to be all there with Him.
Jesus wants us to be all there with each other.
We are to lay down our distractions and take notice of each other and the world around us.
We are to engage because it matters; it really matters.