It's The Little Things

I felt accomplished! I got out of the store with everything on my grocery list and not much more and in pretty good time I might add. All of the bags were in the car and the cart was just about to be wheeled to the cart rack and that’s when I saw it. Playing hide-n-seek underneath my purse, there it was, a package of chopped vegetables that I forgot to pay for! Oh no I thought. I just wanted to go home.  For a brief moment I had a debate with myself, Do I really have to go back in the store for that? They wouldn’t miss those $4, now would they? Abruptly ending the inner debate, I quickly grabbed the package and went back into the store. I explained to the cashier what had happened and paid for the item. The cashier, with a surprised look gave me a big smile and replied “We appreciate you coming back in.” Then off I went back to my original planned get away. Oh, did I mention that my sons were in the car? Well they were and they were eyewitnesses to the whole ordeal.

As I drove home, the cashier’s words kept ringing in my head. I wondered how many times had she seen people do that? I wondered how many Christians had actually done that?  No, it wasn’t a “big thing”. That little act was definitely not groundbreaking or life-changing and I’m sure it won’t merit a blip on the radar of Christian living. But that doesn’t mean that it is not an important thing or even less in importance in comparison to others.  Sometimes I think we put all of our focus on what we consider to be “big things” in our Christian walk (those found in the ten commandments – killing, stealing, lieing, etc.) and we feel like the little things don’t really matter. Things like putting the cart back when we are done with our shopping, putting the item(s) back in their place if we decide we don’t want them, or returning the money we found that was definitely not ours. They do have their place. It’s called integrity. It is defined as adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty (dictionary.com). I like the way it was defined on a sign I saw once, “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.”

Later on that evening, my youngest son asked me what integrity meant. I tried to explain to him in a way that he could understand. I said “It means doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.” He thought to himself, and then he replied “Like when you went back in the store to pay for the things that got left in the cart today? I said yes. He walked away with a slight grin. He was watching me. I was humbled. My prayer is that God would help me to live a life of integrity not only when no one is watching but especially when my children are watching. Hopefully they will follow my example.

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~ Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. ~ Proverbs 10:9

~ So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.~     James 4:17

~ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. ~ Colossians 3:17