A few weeks ago, I was scanning Boscov’s website to find two specific white shirts. When I found them, I discovered they weren’t available at our Eastwood Mall store. Since I had an appointment in Erie the next day, I was delighted to find both of them were available at the Erie Boscov’s store. I ordered the shirts to be picked up in Erie the next day.
However, the next day I received an email saying that that at least one of them was not available. I was disappointed, but decided to stop there to pick up the other shirt. We stopped at the customer service desk near the front of the Erie store and were directed to the back of the store to pick up my order.
When we arrived at the place where we’d been directed, I talked to one of the clerks. She informed me that neither of the shirts were available. By now I was not happy and responded that I should have been told if neither of them were available.
The clerk walked over to look at the email on my phone, saying again that neither of the shirts were available. I pulled my phone away and declared, “That’s NOT what it says!” And I walked away grumbling to Donn.
When we finished our shopping, I looked down at my phone and discovered that I hadn’t scrolled down to the end of the message from Boscov’s which said Cancelled items for order requested for curbside pickup at Boscov’s Erie… and there were the item names and numbers of both items I had ordered.
With a sinking heart, I knew that I owed the clerk an apology. The email had said that both items had been cancelled, but I hadn’t read far enough to see it! I told myself, I’m not going to walk clear back to that part of the store. I’ll call her some time.
However, I needed to use the rest room, so I asked a clerk to point me to the bathrooms. Boscov’s is a huge store and I’d never been in this particular store before, so I didn’t realize I was also being directed to the area where I’d just been unkind to the clerk!
When I saw her, I couldn’t ignore the pointed thudding of my heart. I walked up to her and said, “I owe you an apology. I didn’t read far enough to see that the bottom of the email said both items had been cancelled.”
She smiled and said, “That’s what I was going to show you when I was reaching for your phone.”
I nodded, “I only read far enough to see that it said at least one of the items I’d ordered had been cancelled. It’s probably a standard email that is sent to everyone regardless of how many items were cancelled.”
The clerk agreed and said, “Thank you. I accept your apology.”
As Donn and I walked away, he said, “She probably doesn’t hear that very often.”
I said, “She wouldn’t have heard it from me either if the Holy Spirit hadn’t convicted me. I wasn’t going to walk clear back to wherever she was and then found her right in front of me! I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know what I had to do!”
You might think “But it was such a little thing!”
That reminds me of a story my mother used to read to me and I read to our children about a little boy who stole a very small doll that belonged to a child with whom he’d been playing. When his mother discovered what he’d done, his excuse was, “S only a little one!” But his mother explained the trouble sin brings, whether large or small.
If we begin ignoring the conviction of the Holy Spirit over little things, it becomes easier to ignore His conviction over bigger and bigger things. I’ve also learned that ignoring the Holy Spirit’s conviction over small things or large will almost certainly result in me losing my peace. I once heard Colossians 3:15 explained this way, “Let the peace of God rule (act as an umpire) in your hearts. If it’s gone, you’re out!” Walking in God’s peace is more important to me than avoiding the embarrassment of making an apology I’d like to avoid.
Father, help us to walk in the Spirit which requires a lifestyle of paying attention to the promptings of the Spirit instead of our own selfish desires. (Billy Graham). Amen.