We had the coolest experience today. I don’t know if you realize this, but God shops at TARGET! I know, because He met us in the checkout line this afternoon.
It was one of those typical Saturdays…dance classes, haircuts, errands, housework. All the exciting stuff that grown-up people get to spend their weekends doing. And knowing that our shoeboxes for Regalos de Amor are due at church tomorrow, I had taken the kids to do our shoebox-shopping at my new bff, Target’s Dollar Spot.
As a family, we have been doing this since Trey was a baby. In the past, Mom and Dad usually make the decisions, but in recent years, we’ve been handing over more and more control of the decisions to Trey & Crisana. This year, they practically did it all. I couldn’t have been prouder as they scoured the bins in the Dollar Spot, looking for toys, games, school supplies, and personal items to stock for those less fortunate. We filled out our boxes with a visit to the travel-size hygiene items aisle and a quick stop by the register’s candy stash before checking out.
To be sure everything fit, we had already stocked our plastic shoeboxes as we shopped. At the checkout line, I told the cashier not to bag anything; we would repack it in the shoeboxes after it had been scanned. Although he seemed a bit confused, he obliged and began the process of piling up all our items as he pulled them out, one at a time, from their neatly nested places in the shoebox.
As we waited, a group of women, obviously from the same family, came behind us at the checkout. The matriarch of the clan, recognizing what we were doing, kindly asked Trey and Crisana if they were making shoeboxes. They eagerly shared what we were doing – how we had picked toys, school supplies, soap and shampoo and brushes and toothpaste for children in Mexico to have gifts at Christmas. The kind woman became so excited and shared her own involvement with Samaritan’s Purse. She ooh’ed and aah’ed over every item that came out of our shoeboxes, telling Trey & Crisana over and over what a great job they did, what a wonderful mix of useful and fun items they had selected, how the children would be so happy to receive those boxes.
With tears in her eyes, she shared how she and her husband have supported this project for years, but have never experienced the joy of seeing the children receive their boxes first hand. They live in California, but have never been able to make any trips to deliver the boxes. When I told her that our boxes would be hand-delivered by the high schoolers at our church on a weekend in December, she could hardly contain herself. And soon her whole family had gathered around to see what we were doing and share in the joy.
The checkout clerk didn’t quite know what to make of all this, but I knew a seed was being planted. He dutifully did his job, and as he did, I prayed that God would do His and make a mark on that young man’s heart.
Our order was finally completed, and as we fit the last few items into their proper places in the shoeboxes and gathered our receipt, I finally had the chance to thank this woman who had taken such an interest in us and our project. As I looked up, I was greeted with the shining, smiling faces of her daughters and granddaughters as well, all thoroughly engaged in our conversation. From teenager to senior citizen, those women had all been a part of connecting with us in that brief moment. I wished them all a happy thanksgiving and a wonderful visit together.
“God bless you!” the woman called out after me as we left.
I looked back at her kind, sweet face before we turned the corner.
“Thank you – and you, too!” I called back. But then I realized…He already has.