Here's Pastor
Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church.
Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in
PA.
I understand the old
adage,
you attract more flies with
honey
than with
vinegar......
and I am all for politeness and
kindness,
don't get me
wrong.
But just how many flies does one
need to catch in one day?
I was in the middle of one of
those days.
You know what I
mean.......
one of those days that you would
rather forget.
It was a day filled with meetings,
deadlines, errands,
and yes, a late winter bout with a
miserable cold.
Now, I have been known to not have
the greatest disposition
when I am
sick.
That's when I crossed paths with
Sally Sunshine.
I needed to stop by a local store
to return an item
and there she
was......
stationed at the service
desk.
Her
mission......
to brighten everyone's
day
Sally
Sunshine.
Oh, that's not her
name,
but her positive spirit &
smile radiates from far off,
much like an nuclear explosion
viewed on the horizon.
Knowing that colds tend to make me
a bit grumpy,
I knew that this was a going to be
a collision
of two opposite but equal
forces.
If we were two of the seven
dwarfs,
then Grumpy was about to meet
Happy.
I walked up reluctantly to Miss
Sunshine.
And how are we
today? she said with an excitement
reserved for someone who had been
to Starbucks
once too often that
day.
Just fine, I
mumbled.
I am so glad to hear that,
she said ignoring the fact that my
voice
sounded like death warmed
over.
Every day is a super day here
at (name of store), she chirped.
I knew that I was walking into
the jaws of kindness,
and that I was about to be
devoured.
This lady had obviously taken then
store's workshop in customer service
and had graduated magna
cumlaude.
How may I help you today?
she asked as somehow
her smile got even
bigger.
Unless she could clean out my
sinuses, the only thing I could say was,
I need to return this
item.
Okie
dokie,
now was there anything wrong
with the quality of this product?
she asked making full eye contact
to promote her caring spirit.
Nope, I just need to return
it,
I responded fighting off her eye
contact with a sneeze.
Well, I would be most happy to
help you today.
May I have your receipt
please? she asked in song like fashion.
I gave her the receipt ALMOST
wishing
that she would catch this beast of
a cold
and thus replace her cheerfulness
with congestion.
I think it was the genesis of
that horrible ALMOST thought of mine,
that came from the depth of my
miserableness,
that caused the Divine to punish
me in the moment with IT.
You know about IT, don't
you??
Most men over the age of 40 know
about IT,
that urgent need to find a men's
rest room.
Now it's not just an IT thing with
me.
Let's just say if my bladder had
been named as an eighth dwarf,
it would have been
named, Tiny.
Unaware of my now second helping
of discomfort,
Sally Sunshine continued to spew
out kindness upon kindness,
thus prolonging my
agony.
Would you like to join our
rewards program?
You would receive lots of
discounts on many of our products.
As IT continued to torment
me,
the only reward program I could
imagine
involved an immediate trip to the
men's room.
No thank you, I
stammered.
A spoonful of sugar might help the medicine go
down,
but Sally Sunshine's prescription
of sweetness was doing
nothing to heal my bladder nor my
cold.
Fine and dandy Sir, she quipped. But keep that in mind.
It's a great program that will offer you some great
products at great prices.
Unless one of those products was a
great catheter,
I wasn't
interested.
By the time the refund receipt
printed out,
I was closing in on a health &
hygiene crisis of major proportions.
As I signed the
receipt,
I could sense the lure of the
men's room
moments away from
me.
Is there any other way I can
be of service to you today?
Sally Sunshine said as she tossed
another smile my way.
No, just need to visit the
men's room and I'll be on my way.
Where is it located, I
stammered.
Oh it's just around the
corner,
but it
is closed,
Evidently, there's a plumbing
problem.
Now I hope that I have helped
to
make it a great day for you
sir!
Come back
soon!
Sally Sunshine re-loaded the smile
on her face for the next customer
as I crawled out of the
store.
Nice is
nice,
but it doesn't always fill the
need.
I know many Christians
who believe that living out their
faith
means primarily being nice to
others.
I have nothing against
niceness,
but the gospel that I read
doesn't make "nice" the central
component
of Christian
discipleship.
There were many accounts
where Jesus wouldn't and couldn't be described as nice...
lambasting the Pharisees for their
hypocrisy,
chasing the traders out of the
Temple for their robbery,
delaying his trip to visit Lazarus
until after he had died.
Jesus knew niceness wouldn't teach
the Pharisees how lost they were,
nor would it legitimize what
the robbers were doing in the House of Prayer.
And niceness wouldn't have
revealed His resurrection power to Lazarus' sister, Mary and
Martha.
No, sometimes we water down the
power of the gospel
exchanging compassion for
niceness,
trading truth spoken in love for
niceness,
substituting God's mercy for
niceness.
Niceness is
fleeting,
it usually comes and goes with
each customer.
But mercy, compassion, and
love.....
they aren't business
strategies,
but are hallmarks of the saints of God.
Mercy doesn't refuse
forgiveness
to the one who has
offended.
Compassion doesn't move to the other side of the
street,
bypassing the one in need.
Love doesn't think of itself as
more important than the other,
bypassing the journey to the
cross.
Nice doesn't come close to
these.
So while you are making it a super
day,
go the extra mile and make it a
saintly day.
You can start by telling me where
the nearest restroom is.
I would consider that an act of
mercy.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace,
patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness, self control;
against such things there is no
law.
Galatians 5:22-23
.
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