Publix

We’ve been traveling around in an RV and every town we have visited in the past three weeks has a Publix Grocery Store. When I’m shopping I have to stop and think about where I am because all of the stores are laid out the same. I’ve commented about this to several Cashiers and they have told me that not all the stores are alike but I guess I have been lucky.

We pulled into a new town today that is 200 miles away from the last place and when I walked into Publix I knew where everything was. It didn’t take me long to shop and it was comforting to go into a place that was familiar. I’ve been in 8 different towns with 8 different Publix and I can walk to isle 4 and know exactly what I’ll find.

Just a few shorts weeks ago, when I was still at home, I walked into my grocery store and everything was in disarray. Why are they moving everything? I wondered. It was incredibly irritating. I thought, maybe I’m getting old but there is no need to change everything around. It took me much longer to shop and I couldn’t find a thing. When I asked an employee, they told me it was so that all of their stores would have the same layout and then people could shop at any store and be familiar with the location of their favorite item. Who needs that, I thought. Well, apparently I do!

This grocery store perspective made me realize that I can be narrow-minded when faced with an inconvenience. What about all those out-of-towners who have my grocery store at home? Maybe it helps them out when they are on the road.

When we are connected to God through prayer we may be better able to ask who is the change is serving? No matter what is happening, whatever irritation we might have, it’s good to stop and take a look at what is going on from another perspective.

We get stuck in our perspective, our own context, and when faced with change, we can’t always see what good it will do. The spiritual life is about opening up our perspective, letting go of judgment, and observing. This is the beginning of spiritual transformation.