Gratitude at the grocery store

A few months ago, I noticed that our grocery store no longer had hand-held shopping baskets. If you wanted to shop, you had to use one of the large rolling grocery carts.

I thought maybe the store had some reason for getting rid of the handheld baskets. Sometimes changes happen, and it’s not obvious to me why. But I was really curious. So, after a few trips to the store where I tried to balance five or six items in my arms, I stopped to chat with an employee.

“Did the store decide they didn’t want us to use those baskets anymore?” I asked.

“No,” said the employee, answering the question for perhaps the 100^th time. “When we stopped offering plastic bags, people just filled the baskets and carried them out of the store.”

One by one, the baskets disappeared, and they never came back.

I was astonished. Having to switch to reusable bags hasn’t been the easiest transition, but I would never steal a hand-held basket to get my groceries home. I’m not even sure what I would do if I did take one. Where would I keep it? Would I take it back with me to use it again the next time I went to the store?

I think of the people who decided to take them whenever I shop at the store. I wonder about the motivations, and maybe even the desperation, that would invite someone to steal a hand-held grocery store basket. People fascinate me, and sometimes their decisions confuse me. Maybe they had a good reason to do what they did. I will never know.

But it makes me grumble a little, as I maneuver a giant shopping cart through a crowded store to buy just a few groceries. It’s funny how the small inconveniences of life can seem so big, especially when we’re in a hurry. And, of course, each one offers an opportunity to make a little sacrifice and to connect ourselves to Jesus a little more closely. But I rarely think of that in the moment. It’s easier for me to be frustrated or a little grumpy.

Then, the other day I went to the store, and I reached for a large rolling cart. And my eyes fell for the first time to the bar across the front of the cart—the part I hold while I push it around the store. Printed on the bar in a friendly script were the words, “Thank you.”

Well, there it is, I thought. God’s message for me, right in front of me. He is inviting me to set the complaining aside and focus on gratitude. And, of course, he’s right. There is so, so much we have to be thankful for, especially during Lent. And I do believe God puts messages and opportunities in our path, especially at this time of year, to get our attention and invite us to grow closer to him.

“The best way to show my gratitude to God is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy,” St. Teresa of Kolkata tells us.

I’m sure those words have been on the carts for years, maybe forever, but I saw them as if I had never noticed them before. And I am thankful for that.

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