Merry Christmas to all!I have no idea why I agreed to work on Christmas Eve this year…my thought was that “no one really waits until the very last minute to shop, do they?” Umm, was I OH SO wrong! My morning started out with a long line of full shopping carts and several rude customers thinking that I should cater to their every need…and that I should know what those needs are without them asking. sheesh.
Working retail for the past few months has definitely opened my eyes to things that I have never been exposed to. Gosh, I ask myself all the time now, “do I ever act like that while waiting in line?” .. “do I ever treat employees/waiters with such disrespect?” .. “do my facial expressions ever look that sour?” I have so much admiration for the people in retail or any sort of business that deals with hundreds of people every day—you guys don’t ever get the appreciation you deserve, so thank you!
Being at the customer service desk at Ross has also revealed many of my own weaknesses. I get way too easily annoyed with uptight and impatient people and take things too personally. Often, I find
myself wanting to make the transaction go slower, just to tick them off; but, then I realize that means I’ll have to deal with them longer, so I go back to being quick about it. Yes, I’m man enough.. woman enough? oh whatever, you know what I mean.. :) to admit that the deciding factor to be kinder to people I don’t know, is for my own selfish reasons rather than taking into account the realization that God loves them and he wants me to love them as well!There was a quote I read a couple weeks ago, although I can’t remember where, and it really stuck with me: “Be kinder than necessary, because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.” So true. That’s what I’ve been working on—being kinder than necessary—and it’s a lot harder than what I first thought. Every time I feel myself being sucked into the world’s bitter/angry/depressing attitude, I have to quickly snap out of it and remember to enjoy life.
What does James remind us in his first chapter? To “consider it pure JOY..whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything…Blessed is
the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” (vv 2-4, 12)I don’t want to quit under trying circumstances or give up when people make me mad. (with everything that has transpired over the last several months, believe me when I say that on many occasions I wanted to throw something across the room and watch it break into hundreds of little pieces. or else just scream as loud as I could into my pillow) No, I want to be mature and complete! I want to stand and say that I will let go of my will and receive His gift—the crown of life—this Christmas.
