Grace for the Grinch
People of the Second Chance posts topic blogs on who we'd give a second chance to. It's a radical movement on giving grace to those that may not necessarily deserve it (who does?) But this post is altogether different because...Today I'm the Grinch who needs grace.
It'd been a long morning and my lunch break was spent fighting the traffic and lines to get to the Post Office and buy a few small presents more for Christmas. I needed lunch so I stopped at a sandwhich place
The line was long and clearly they were swamped. The workers rushed around and I stood at the counter five minutes (at least it seemed like five minutes) before anyone noticed me to take my order. *Huff* Annoyed I spouted what I wanted to the timid worker who wished me a "Happy Holidays," rolling my eyes as I complained about the wait.
Twenty minutes went by (this time I timed it) as I sat waiting for my to-go order. I noticed two workers on lunch break, casually chatting away as eight or nine other customers looked just as grinchy as me, clearly frustrated at the wait.
Finally, I snapped. I went to the store manager and proceeded to, in no uncertain terms, point out his two workers on break, and the eight angry customers (besides me) and demanded that I either get my sandwhich or he make it free.
Yah, not my best moment.
My grinchyness started a chain reaction and two other customers also demanded their order or a refund. Then two more, until that poor manager looked like he was going to cry.
Was that really necessary??
That God-voice, the one that convicts got to me. As I paid for my sandwhich I apologized to the manager for what I'd said. I told him I knew they were busy and understood his position. He of course said it was fine, but I sure didn't feel fine. I felt awful for what I'd done, and at the same time thankful for God's grace in the moment.
Driving back, the traffic was just as bad, if not worse and my nerves were still on edge. A driver cut me off, my bumper almost grazing his. But I wasn't going to keep giving in to my frustration. Instead I waved. I smiled. I carried on.
Grace.
Wow! What a story! Everyone has grinchy days, when nothing seems to go right and all we want to do is grumble, complain, and groan. It's hard to step back and say, "It's not about me." It's never easy to let things just go by and look at it from a different point of view.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this. I loved your perspective of this week's POTSC. It made me see that I have some Grinch in me too, and I need to let his heart grow three sizes.
Andrew
I admire your honesty and I think we would all be lying if we didn’t say we acted like a Grinch once in awhile. I know I sure have, in fact, just the other day I lost my patience with a fellow driver. She wanted to turn left, across my lane and my light turned green, it was becoming a stale green, then yellow, and red. I yelled out words in frustration and sure enough my 4 year old repeated what I stated. After that incident I started praying for more patience and guidance to be a better person.
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