Sometimes I love to just stop and people watch during the Holiday season. One year I was shopping at a local craft store and found myself meandering through the store and watching people instead of shopping. Christmas music was playing, the aisles were full of color themed Christmas displays, and the Christmas tree area was full of shoppers trying to negotiate their way past other carts and shoppers in the aisles. Each model of every tree was displayed beautifully, lit up, with the price prominently place on the tree with a red line slashed through it, and the new 50% off price listed on the tag. There was also a clear plastic pouch on another branch full of pieces of paper with the SKU number, price, and a note that said something to the effect of, ‘Display- take this to the register to purchase your tree’. There was a lady that grabbed my attention, and quite frankly the attention of everyone in the area. Apparently, she was really excited about the price of the Christmas tree. She grabbed the tree that was on display, stuffed it in her cart, and promptly left that department as fast as she could. It made me giggle, until I realized that the tree she grabbed was the exact tree I had come to buy that day. I walked around to see if there was anything else I needed, and decided I would purchase the few things I had in my cart, and I would come back another day to pick up the tree. I made my way to the register and found myself in line behind the lady with the tree in her cart. The person in front of her had purchased a ton of Christmas items, and it had taken awhile for her to get to the front of the line at the cash register. As she approached the clerk, she began talking quickly, loudly, and passionately stating this was the price that was on the tree when she found it, and at THIS price, this was a great price for this tree, she didn’t change the price, she didn’t have to assemble it, so… why wouldn’t she buy it! The clerk seemed a bit overwhelmed by the aggressiveness of the customer at her register as she sweetly nodded and rang up the tree. As I watched this interaction take place, I wondered why the clerk didn’t tell the woman that she was taking the display tree and they would be happy to get her a boxed tree to take home. As I was standing there behind her basket with the tree hanging out in my direction, I thought about how I had driven 40 minutes to come to that store to get that size of an artificial tree. I reached over and removed one of the cards from the pouch hanging from the branch of her tree so that I would have the SKU number to purchase a tree in a box. The lady continued in a loud and frenzied voice sharing her excitement of finding this tree for this price, and how it was the perfect tree for where she wanted it. As soon as she paid for the tree, she could not get out of the store fast enough, thinking that she had gotten away with something she didn’t deserve for the amount of money she had paid. I giggled to myself as I paid the same amount of money for the same tree, in a box that I would store the tree in for years to come.
God has a gift for each and everyone of us. Unlike this tree that had a small price tag on it, God gives us a gift that doesn’t cost us a thing. This ‘gift’ is more than we could ever imagine. This ‘gift’ is something we don’t deserve. This ‘Gift’ is something that we can ever earn. This ‘gift’ is the gift of His unconditional love. It is accompanied by grace, along with freedom; it’s eternal life. God loves us, no matter what we do, how we act, or where we are in life. Accepting this ‘gift’ makes us a better person. It’s amazing that we all can have the excitement of the lady at the craft store each and every day.
“… but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23b
