Serendipitous Moment

I like grocery shopping.

I like trying to find deals and

Seeing how much money I’ve “saved.”

I like going up and down every aisle,

Seeing what’s available and commenting on weird products if I’m with a friend.

(Grocery shopping with a friend is always more fun than grocery shopping alone.)

I like checking things off my list,

Whether the list is real or imaginary.

And I like putting everything in grocery bags,

Trying to get things in as few bags as possible.

 

What I don’t like about grocery shopping is

The crowds!

 

So, I had planned to go to my local grocery store last Saturday night.

I find that late nights or early mornings help me avoid the chaos of too many people.

But I needed to run errands on Saturday afternoon, so

I decided to just go on and go to the store while I was out.

I knew that I was putting myself in the middle of rush-day grocery shopping,

But something told me to go.

 

As projected,

There were a lot of people.

The aisles were crowded and

I was having to do some creative cart pushing,

But I was checking off my list.

And then I saw a friend and her son.

I hadn’t seen them in over a year.

We stood and talked for about ten minutes.

At first it was small talk,

And then she began to pour out her heart.

She was carrying so much and needed an outlet.

So I stood and listened and

We made undated plans to get coffee.

When we went our separate ways,

I thought to myself,

“What a serendipitous moment.

SHE is why I felt led to come to the grocery store in the middle of the day.

SHE is why I am here.”

 

Dear God: Help us to see the serendipitous moments in our lives and to celebrate them when they occur. You constantly allow things to happen in happy and beneficial ways. Whether you orchestrate them or whether they happen by chance, thank you. Amen.