A Less Than Shining Moment--That God Redeemed

I'd rather write about something else.
A wonderfully victorious moment in my life.
A look-at-me moment.
We Accidental Pharisees thrive on those kinds of moments.
But what I experienced yesterday was a less-than-shining-moment. I got tripped up, once again, by anger. I was A-N-G-R-Y.
Again.
Seems like anger is stalling out my spiritual life quite a bit the last few days--at least since last Thursday.
It was that whole I'm-Right-and-The-Other-Person-is-Wrong scenario.
So, there I was. Stuck.
And I'm in Wal-Mart. Grabbing a few necessities, fuming as I went from aisle 5 to aisle 9 and then to the Express Checkout Lane.
The guy in front of me has five or six items. He's wearing bike shorts and a jersey and toting a backpack--and he's hot and sweaty.
I watch as he begins to search his backpack. Within seconds, he realizes he doesn't have his wallet. The checker has already rung up his groceries--but he doesn't have any money. So he tells her to cancel the sale. He doesn't get flustered. He just shrugs his shoulders and says, "Oh, well. No wallet." And gets ready to leave.
Something prompts me: Help the guy out.
And so I say, "How much is his bill? I'll pay it."
The guy offers to give me his name, but I tell him that he doesn't need to do that.
"God bless you," I said--because I knew God prompted me to pay his bill.
And I smile.
He walked out with his groceries.
I walked out less angry.
Being kind to a stranger loosened the grip of anger on my heart.
I realized that if I could be kind to a stranger--couldn't I be forgiving to someone I love?
Yes.
Sure, that man went home with his groceries.
But I think I received the more valuable thing in that transaction, don't you?

Just Thinking Out Loud: This Accidental Pharisee is forever amazed at how God can show up in the most unexpected places--Wal-Mart, the checkout line--and redeem the less-than-shining-moments of her life.