Ripple Effects

Today I made our second grocery store trip of the pay period. Its the trip I detest because we are already out of everything, but can only buy the essentials without busting up our budget. I felt Dave Ramsey perched on my shoulder like Blackbeard's parrot eyeing my every selection. "Cubed cheese?," he chided. "CUBED CHEESE? Buy the 8 oz chunk and hack it up yourself, you lazy over-spender!" He carried on like this the whole time... it was terribly exhausting.

At the register I loaded up our stuff on the conveyor belt, keeping an item or two aside for emergency re-shelving in case I underestimated the total. A friend of mine got in line behind me and we chatted for a minute while we waited, though I was distracted by the increasing total on the register. When the checker finished I went for the scanner with my trusty debit card. Suddenly, I heard a "Wait, Don't run that!" from my friend. I looked up thinking I was mistakenly overcharged or something, but instead she gave the checker her card.

Girls, she bought my groceries. All of them.

"You don't have to do that!" I said, but I could see by her smile that it was a pleasure. I couldn't help it. I started crying right there in line at Super Target. THEN, the cashier started crying. I mean really, who goes to Super Target to be nice? I thanked my friend profusely and got all of our stuff in the car.

I was so stinkin' blessed, I had to call a few friends and tell them. Since I am usually complaining after I go to Super Target, it was a refreshing break for them. I dialed and talked all the way home. Here is the cool part: Everyone I told was inspired to do the same thing for someone else. I am getting chills just writing about it.

So, today, because of the overflow of love in one woman's heart, the ripple effects of blessing are as follows*:
Me
My boys
Cashier
Greg
My mom
My Sister
4 different friends (so far)
Unknown number of people who will soon be similarly blessed by those named above

And of course... you.

That is a huge return for a simple act of generosity. So, what could you do with $93.86?

*I had to add a few new people to the list since the original posting on Tales From the Running Mama. I can't keep it in. Whoop whoop!

The Little Things

Today I finally got around to planting the leftover vinca from a very large flat my husband bought last weekend. I hate leaving beautiful sprouts without a home, but I was out of space.

Unless you count the sparse and bare container that is nurturing my "survivors". Every year at the end of May I look at my garden closely for any determined fellows that held on over the cold winter and chose to give it another go when the warm weather returned. This year I found two teensy-weensy petunias, one lone portulaca, and a "yet-to-be-determined." I transplanted these hangers-on into a large clay pot and displayed it in a place of honor at the edge of the driveway.

Now each morning I walk outside and check the progress of my feeble friends. Will they be bigger? Will they bloom? Watching the progression of a wilted seedling to a colored blossom is intensely satisfying.

I wonder if God looks at us like that. It is lovely to enjoy a flower that was given the best of everything. Good soil, fertilizer, and the right amount of sun. They grow big and colorful and flashy. But the ones who clung on even when nothing went their way... that is a different kind of beauty. Beauty with strength.

I have noticed that my life is not always one, and not always the other. Sometimes it is easy. Sometimes it is cold, dry, and lonely. Some days love spills out of me like an overflowing teapot. Some days a drop would double my stores. I hope I have what it takes to praise Him through whatever weather I find myself enduring.

God please help me hang on in all seasons and bloom just the same.

(And by the way, my vinca is enjoying a little stint in a PLASTIC container. I couldn't let those big healthy plants steal all the glory!)