INSPIRASUNS

A few weeks ago I shared in a couple of different little blogs the sadness and then happiness I felt while shopping at one of our local grocery stores. I was sad because of the behavior of one of the young adults working the checkout lane. He just seemed so put out by having to be there. He wouldn’t engage with customers, not even a hello. He made the experience very unpleasant, and it did make me very sad. I was sad for him as a young person who seemed so unhappy. Just a few days later though we visited a different store and had just the opposite experience. Young people were manning all of the checkout lanes and they were all so happy. They engaged with customers, “How is your day”, “Did you find everything you needed”, etc. I left in a totally different mood than a few days before and had restored hope in our young people 🙂 .

Yesterday afternoon my husband and I again made the trip to the grocery store. We made our way around, checking things off the list, and headed for the checkout. As we got to a lane the young man who was bagging the order ahead of us called to my husband, “Sir are you looking to check out?”. My husband nodded yes. “Step right in sir, and just put your items on the belt and we’ll take care of you”. My husband turned back to me with kind of a questioning look, like “Why is he telling me all this?”. I commented that I could see he was a special needs young man. Ahh, my husband realized.

We loaded up our groceries onto the lane and moved to the end towards the bagger. He began conversation, “How is your day going”. We responded fine and asked how his day was. “Mine is going great!”. He then proceeded to tell us about his day and how he had gotten up early to work out at the gym. He shared a little bit about his workout, and then about his breakfast afterward. He had scrambled eggs, lots of them. “And do you know what I put on them?”. We asked and he responded, “Yellow mustard. Have you ever tried it on your eggs?”. We replied we hadn’t but that it sounded like it might be good. “It’s really, really good, you need to try it, you really need to try it”. The cashier finished and handed us our receipt. Our bagger finished and handed over the last bag. We thanked him for his help, and he responded with, “Have a nice rest of your day”.

If you’ve been reading this little blog very long you know that we have a special needs grandson. Yesterday as we talked to this young man in the grocery store I couldn’t help but think of our Austin. He is working a part-time job now with the help of his school. I pictured Austin in conversation with customers and hoped that he had the same experiences, customers listening to stories about his day.

Too often we want to look past the special needs, we don’t want to engage in conversation, we want to just get our business done and move on. These individuals are some of Father’s most precious gifts. They have an unconditional love that pours from them. They are happy to contribute, they are excited when they get the job done, and they know no fear. I’m so grateful to see businesses hiring more of them, making time to train them, and helping them to contribute and make a difference.

Friends, if you see a special needs person working in a business, take time to stop and engage. Even if you are just thanking them for what they do, it means so much. They recognize better than most of us, the love of Jesus when they see it 🙂 .

Have a good day friends, continued prayers lifted for the return of our sweet Emily Rea.

1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.