What She Heard in the Bread Aisle

 

Give us this day our daily bread.

— Matthew 6:11

 

I have this funny, creative, loving friend who is truly the World's Best Grandmother. I know, I know, there are a lot of contestants in that category. But she'd be right up there.

 

The other day, she ran to the drugstore to pick up some Halloween candy that she wanted to hide in little goodie bags for her grandchildren to find around the house. That's the kind of fun stuff she does all the time. On the afternoon of Halloween, she will show up, in her elaborate witch's costume, and make a candy "stew" with the kids.

 

She calls her iconic mixture of autumn candy "Wanda the Witch's Stew." There were specific types of candy that HAD to be in the mix. And darn it, she couldn't find all of them at the drugstore.

 

Then when she got home, she realized she was out of zip-lock sandwich bags. She wanted to put the candy inside them, and THEN inside paper lunch bags, so that there would be no leaks. Therefore, she deemed it imperative to make one last "run" to the store. Maybe she'd find the candy she wanted, too.

 

She could've gone to the convenient mart around the corner, or to another store nearby, but she decided there might be a couple of other things she could pick up at her favorite grocery store, so she went there.

 

She made the rounds, picked up the zipo-lock bags and a few other items, found the right candy, rejoiced, and even went back a second time to one aisle. On the way back up to the checkstand, she meandered along the racks of bread, which she did not need. She was just browsing and smelling those good, fresh-bread smells.

 

 

 

 

There was an older black gentleman with $2 in his hand. As she pushed her cart up the aisle, she could see that he was going back and forth in front of all the bread, leaning down to peer at the pricetags.

 

She knew immediately that he was trying to find what he could afford.

 

Suddenly, a still, small Voice said inwardly to her as she drove her cart past, "Give that man $20." 

 

Hunhhh?

 

She pushed her cart a few steps further. The Voice said again, "Give that man $20."

 

There was nothing audible. The heavens didn't part. No choir of angels sang. She just heard that still, small Voice, and she knew what to do.

 

She backed up, opened her billfold, handed the man the $20, and said, "The Lord told me to give this to you."

 

He started to cry. Raising up his other hand, with the $2 in it, he said, "I was trying to figure out how I could buy bread. This is all the money I have."

 

Not now. Now he was set. He looked at her for a second, and then confessed, "I have goosebumps." He started trembling. "How did you know?" 

 

"Well, I didn't, until the Lord told me to give you the money," she replied, a big smile spreading over her adorable grandma face. "I hope this blesses your day." 

 

He gave her a wide, nearly toothless grin, and continued to cry softly as he rubbed the goosebumps on his arm, mumbling, "Thank you, Jesus."

 

The moment was priceless. She was soooooo glad she had obeyed. She could see what a huge difference it had made for him.

 

She didn't have to push her cart up to the checkstand. It practically floated . . . and she might have felt the brush of angel's wings.

 

You know, she's by no means rich. She's definitely in "the 99 percent." She lives on a fixed income. She's a little old lady in tennis shoes, splurging on candy for her grandkids. She could have ignored the Voice and gone on with her day.

 

NOT!!!

 

She starts every morning in prayer, and keeps it up all day, every day, 'til bedtime. She knows the Lord. She has "heard" His voice before. She knows what life is like with Him in the driver's seat, trusting Him to meet her every need - including the need to share whatever she can, just out of the joy of giving.

 

She leads the submitted life that characterizes Christianity, representing the Savior and doing His errands whenever asked, instantly and diligently.

 

That's why they call it "a relationship, not a religion." There's no greater thrill in life than representing the King of the Universe in directly blessing another human being.

 

The Christian lifestyle is kind of like bread: you can live without it every day. But why would you want to?

 

Of her trip to the store, she says with a smile: "I got not only what I needed, but apparently what I came for."

 

Next time you have a chance to serve the Bread of Life, don't loaf . . . move your buns . . . and any way you slice it, you and those around you will be sweetly blessed. †