Grace in Trader Joes

All that talk about the glories of biking to work and it's been raining the past 2 days. Of course. Yesterday's 'life lesson' took place at Trader Joes. After work I walked to Trader Joes to pick up a few essentials (wine and cheese- my two favorite food groups). It was raining so I was messing with my umbrella in the entryway of the TJs. Mind you, I was tired, feeling a bit sick, and wet, so my movements were a tad slower than usual. As I'm walking over to get the cart, a tall lady walking behind me almost bumps into me, throws her hands up in anger, looks at me in disgust, and says, 'Ugh!'. Apparently I had gotten in her way. She rushes past me all angrily and arrogantly goes into TJs.

I must admit, I was SO mad at her. The whole time in Trader Joes I was thinking up smartass comments I could have made to her like, "I'm sorry that I made you lose one second of your precious time. I"m sorry you're such a jerk. I'm sorry you hate your life and are taking it out on me." Ok, so maybe those comments would have been lame, but still, I was ranting and raving in my mind. I was judging her for being so petty and impatient. Why can't she just be gracious with people around her and chill out?

A couple minutes later I was walking to the bus stop with my heavy Trader Joes bag (due to the wine), and some tourists in front of me stopped quickly to let a car pass. But of course, it was pedestrian's right away, so I brushed past them quickly, grunting a frustrated 'ugh'!, I mean, how could these tourists be so stupid? They made me slow down for a second.

Then the convicting moment hit me. I am that 'mean Trader Joes girl'! I was petty and impatient with these tourists because they inconvenienced me for a second. I was not gracious with them at all. It's all about me.

Isn't that always the case, though? We want people to be gracious with us, but then we fail to be gracious to others? I see that in my life so often, and yesterday I was once again reminded of it. I take myself too seriously sometimes, and the people around me feel the brunt of that. I want grace to pervade my life and my interactions. And it starts with these little things, the minor inconveniences, the petty issues. I must practice living graciously in all circumstances, even in Trader Joes.