The Meat Manager's Wisdom

Yesterday I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things for the week. I had a lot on my mind and I was praying for insight and for strength as I made my way through the store where I stopped by the meat counter for a few things. My wife and I have shopped here for years and we have become friendly with the manager of the meat department. He is a nice man with a wonderful attitude and he has been so kind to the both of us that we make it a point to stop and see him every time we go shopping.

He always has an encouraging word to share and he always makes you feel special. He could tell that I was having a difficult day so he shared a personal story with me of something that he went through when he was a younger man. The experience that he had gone through had almost broken him and tore him apart for a while. The outcome of the story was that if you can just hold on, things usually work out in the end, and in his case, everything did. He told me to be strong and give it time, things will work out. I thanked him for his kindness and his encouragement and finished my shopping.

There is a scripture that says that a man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his path (Pr. 16:9). Who knew that encouragement and wisdom could be found in the meat department of my local grocery store? I thought I was just going shopping but the Lord had a few other plans for me, He wanted to encourage me and He used this wonderful man to accomplish that. I left there feeling better than when I had first arrived. I was asking for strength and for encouragement, and I got it at the meat department.

I know that life can be complicated and that sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own situation that we can't see the forest through the trees. But every once in a while if we can open our eyes and actually see the people that we meet on a daily basis, look at them, listen to them; I think that we would be surprised at how many opportunities there are for us to be a part of something bigger. When we need answers or solutions to our problems, instead of waiting for the heavens to part and miracles fall from the sky, maybe all we need to do is make a trip to the grocery store. After all, you never know what you'll find.

A smile can be a powerful thing

A few weeks ago a friend of ours slipped on some black ice and fell and broke her knee. She was taken into surgery the next day and is slowly recovering at a rehab facility here in town that also provides long term care for elderly patients. My wife and I wanted to see her so we stopped by yesterday to visit with her and spend a little time together.

Afterwards as we were heading down the hallway towards the exit doors, my attention was drawn to an elderly man sitting in a wheel chair further down the hallway with a blank stare on his face. I watched him as we got closer wondering about him. So many thoughts and feelings were filling my head and my heart because I was remembering years earlier when my Mom was in a rehab facility for a short time and how unhappy she was. I had not been in a rehab facility since before my Mom passed away and I was feeling a lot of things. Looking at this man I felt a little sad for him because he looked lost; a look I remember seeing on my Mom's face so many times.

As we got closer to him he slowly looked up and his eyes locked onto mine. I smiled at him as if to recognize him and his face lit up. He opened his mouth a little and mumbled what sounded like "hi". I was only about three feet away at this moment and I said to him, "Hi there." In that one moment I felt his pain, his sadness and his helplessness. I had to fight back some tears as I began to empathize. What just happened? Whatever it was it really affected me emotionally. I quickly composed myself and we left the building and headed towards the car.

When we got into the car I told my wife that being in there had brought back a lot of memories of when my Mom was alive. She agreed and said she felt the same thing. We both have a difficult time seeing elderly people in those types of facilities because we both empathize a little too much. It was the recognition when our eyes met that was the catalyst for me. As I approached him and he saw me, I wonder if he was thinking about when he was a younger man, perhaps my age, and thinking about all the years that had passed to bring him to where he was at that moment- sitting alone in a wheelchair in a care facility looking a little lost. Looking at him I was also thinking about where I will be in thirty some odd years and how I will feel and what will be going through my mind.

There's no way of knowing what the future may bring, and there's no guarantee of the outcome. I guess what I hope for is that I can grow old gracefully, surrounded by friends and family who love me. If for some reason fate has other plans and I end up in a long-term care facility feeling lost and alone, I pray that someone shares a smile that brightens my day, and reminds me of a time when I was a younger man with hopes and dreams still ahead of me. After all, a smile is a powerful thing.

A Sales Pitch in the Post Office

So I head into the local post office to mail an envelope. It's busier than normal so I get in line behind a woman who seems content to simply wait her turn. Not two minutes later, the woman in front of her turns around and start complimenting the lady's makeup and nice she looks. At first it seems like small talk, but then immediately she breaks into a sales pitch about how she is mailing these little makeup bags out and how they are discount 90% and what a great deal they are and, oh my God, she is pushy and obnoxious. She then starts trying to sell this poor woman in front of me her products. The woman simply says "I've tried that product and it's nice but I'm  all set." The pushy sales lady does not accept this response and says that the deal is too good to pass up and tells the woman to just buy one bag and try them again. "I didn't bring any cash", the woman says. "Oh that's okay, we take credit cards", the pushy sales lady says. "I didn't bring my purse", the woman says, "I'm just getting one stamp". Meanwhile all of this was taking place in a line at the post office. Not the greatest venue for selling makeup I would imagine. I was exhausted listening to this lady myself and couldn't wait to get out of there. The pushy sales lady then offered the woman in front of me to go ahead of her which she accepted and then quickly left the building.

Soon it was my turn and the pushy sales lady offered me her spot as well, and then spoke quietly to me and said "I'm going to pitch the clerk so you can go ahead of me." I did and I was out of there lickity-split. On my way out the woman who had been in front of me was outside getting into her car. When I walked by she smiled and I said, "Next time she should make an appointment." The woman looked at me and said "All I wanted was a stamp." I got into my truck and left but I started to think about how that sales lady was perceived by all of us who were waiting in line.

Was she pushy or was she an aggressive salesperson? Was she obnoxious or was she excited about her products? Was she trying to make a quick sale or was she hoping to share some awesome makeup with people who could benefit from her products? I imagine the opinions could go either way and they did with me.

The lesson I learned today was that timing and presentation are important and they should always go hand in hand. People must be in a frame of mind to receive information, and location and timing are just as important as the message. Sometimes it's better to postpone a sales meeting to make sure that it's received properly, rather than rush an opportunity and end up losing the client. Being excited about your products or services and having a 'take control' attitude are great qualities to posses when selling, but if it comes across as obnoxious and pushy by those we are trying to market to, we have already lost the battle.

O, the dreaded mirror!

As a person who subscribes to the many 'self-help' gurus out there and the eternal quest for an enlightened soul, I have read in the past that every single person that we meet was designed by the universe for us to gain some greater wisdom, and to possibly even see some insight into our own selves. By seeing the qualities and attributes in another person, both desirable and undesirable, we could see ourselves better in a different light. Perhaps by using the light that we shine on others to see their imperfections, if shone back onto ourselves, would in some way reveal things that we haven't seen before, or haven't wanted to see. This exercise would be almost like looking into a mirror.

With that in mind, I wanted to challenge myself to a 30-day exam. This exam would be an opportunity for me to see things about myself through the people that I meet and document it. It's not about always finding the bad or the unpleasant, but rather try and see myself exactly as I am, or at least how I appear to others. So for the next 30 days I will share my experiences about one person each day that I meet that reveals something about myself that I either haven't seen or have been unwilling to see both good and maybe not so good. Working on things that we don't like about ourselves can be unpleasant, but sometimes the only way through is to simply face it head on.