Perseverance

It was shortly before Christmas when I learned that a local grocery store was giving away bags of groceries to the shoppers. My family needed a turkey for Christmas dinner so we decided to take our chances and patronize the store with the give-away.

Each grocery cart was marked with a number, and every hour the manager would call out ten numbers announcing ten lucky winners of the groceries. To increase our chances of winning, my five children and I each took our own cart. So there we were, all six of us pushing carts around the grocery store, to pick up one turkey! We took our time; slowly walking up and down each aisle hoping that one of us would have the lucky cart when the numbers were called. Much to our dismay, we had spent an hour wandering the store but had no winning bag of groceries to show for it.

I was so determined to win and was sure one of our numbers just had to be next. So, although we had already purchased our lonely turkey, we waited at the service desk with our six carts, waiting for the next number call-out, hoping to win.

To my great surprise and delight, the manager came to me and handed me a bag of groceries! I protested, “But you didn’t call our number!” He said, “We were going to call your number next-you win!!!”

I am sure the manager was quite relieved to see us leave and stop cluttering up his store, as we walked away with smiles on our faces.

Teach me Lord, to always persevere in your service like I persevered to “win” the groceries. Even if my number doesn’t get called, remind me that all of my efforts to love you and others will be rewarded in eternity. Amen.