December 6 – “Out-kindnessed”

After a hard morning and early afternoon working on the teaching for Sunday, my ears had an appointment in the afternoon.  Technically the appointment was for them to check my hearing aids.  That happens every three months or so.  The receptionist cleans them out, and then the tech lady crams the scope into my ear so she (And me, too.  It’s projected onto a large-screen TV monitor) can see if the hallways inside my ear canals are all clear of debris.  It can get pretty gross if there is a lot of wax in there.  Fortunately they were both relatively clear this time.  No major hallway obstructions.  It took a little longer than usual because the former technician who retired was back for a visit, so the other two were giddy.  Yep.  Giddy.  I grabbed my free batteries and slinked out the front door, leaving them to their memories and revelries.

From there I went over to Randall’s to get some stamps and some fruit.  Oh, and to test the holiday spirit waters, of course.  I made my usual request for 100 stamps to the lady at the customer service desk.  And suddenly she came to life.  Her eyes widened.  Her jaw dropped.  Her head leaned back as if she could no longer see me clearly and needed to adjust the distance so her internal telescope could get focused.  Then the grin appeared and she demanded (quite good-naturedly) to know what in the world I was going to do with that many stamps.  My answer?  “Mail stuff.”  She apparently thought that was the funniest thing she had heard all day, judging from her laughter.  She asked, “You’re mailing that many things?”  I answered, again as simply as I could muster, “Eventually.”  And again she burst into laughter.  By this time my transaction was complete, but she had one more thing to add ere I walked out of sight, “You can use one to send me a Christmas card,” followed by yet another explosion of laughter.  I threw her a final “Merry Christmas” and walked on to get the fruit.

By that time I was fully into the Christmas spirit.  I quickly gathered up my bananas and oranges and grapes and scoped out the checkout lines, looking for someone I had never seen before.  Yep, I was ready to use my old WalMart trick at Randall’s.  Spotting a likely suspect, I headed for the checkout line, determined to smile and offer her a turnabout pleasant shopping experience.  As she handed me my receipt, I tossed out what I thought was a chipper, “Merry Christmas.”  None of that “Happy Holidays stuff for me, you know.  She didn’t miss a beat.  She instantly replied, “Oh, Merry Christmas, sweetie.  But I know you’ll be back in here before then.  I’ll see you soon.”

Wow.  I love getting out-kindnessed.

Psalms 9:11 says, “Sing praises to the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done.”

Father, thank you for those two bubbly ladies I ran into at Randall’s and for the giddy ones over at the hearing aid place as well.  Bless them today.  Amen.