Listen for the Kingdom’s Invites!

I am not a patient man. But as I get older, I am getting better. What is the line—I am not as good as I should be, but I am a lot better than I was.
Wal Mart is not a good place for impatient people. There is such a big ego in my life sometimes that I think that everyone in the whole store should know that I am doing God's work so get out of my way. I think that miraculously everyone else should be at the same pace of the day that I am. If you slow me down, don't you know how long it takes an old man like me to gain momentum again?
There is a grandmother in front of me in line. How do I know she is a grandmother? Not by her age but by the behavior of the children with her. They are climbing all over everything. The three kids are touching everything. As my father would say, "those kids need some parenting!" However those rules do not apply to grandparents. I know. I am one. I guess it is because we do not have to carry them home with us all the time.
So the kids are everywhere. The grandmother and the cashier are moving at slow grandparent pace. Then they decide that it is time to talk about the illnesses of life. Do you know how many illnesses a grandmother knows in life? Grandma and the cashier are oblivious to my presence. I stand in line noticing that one of the people that I raced to get ahead of to get into this line has left the store five minutes before me.
It has taken me this long to finally hear what God would have me hear. The cashier begins to talk about her two year old daughter being sick. Her voice is filled with worry. She does not know what to do. Every person disappears in Wal Mart except this one cashier. So I begin to pray.
As I pray I remember the feeling of being a parent of a sick child. I remember the anxiety of having to leave and go to work. I remember the parents that I have prayed with as their children suffered. Sometimes parenting is really tough. Sometimes as a parent you feel so helpless. I ask God to touch this parent's heart with a peace. I ask God to pour God's healing grace upon the two year old child.
As I go to leave, I look directly into the eyes of this worrying mother and tell her that I have prayed for her. I tell her that I will continue to pray for her daughter's wellness. And then she smiles. Her "thank you" is not a routine pace or rhythm. She looks at me with a strange but gracious look.
Days have passed and I continue to remember this mother and her child in my prayers. I ask God to hear the cries of all the sick children in the world. I ask God to give the peace that passes ALL understanding to parents who will hold their ailing children. I ask God to give this peace to all parents who will have to leave their sick child to go to work.
One of the things in my journey that helps me is when I listen for God's opportunities as they come in life. I wonder how many I miss because of my own ego or agenda. I find myself carrying a checklist that I feel a compulsion to get done. And yes, some things must be done. However, there are times that God slows us down and invites into the world of suffering and anxiety.
The Good Samaritan surely had things to do. His schedule was probably as full or maybe even fuller than the Priest and the Levite. We like to think that Samaritans had nothing to do all day. However the Samaritan stopped. He accepted God's invitation to care for a man on the side of the road. God interrupted his life with a kingdom invitation. May we not be too busy or in too much of a hurry to stop and pray.
Pray for me as I pray for you.