Living for NOW

Looking for the perfect Christmas ham, I ventured into a high quality food store- only to be shocked by the extreme prices of their meat!  Why, I could buy an entire week’s worth of groceries for the price of one of those fancy hams! So I went to store #2 -and much to my dismay there were no hams.

I got everything else I could find from my list and found my way to the check-out line.  The store was so crowded, I couldn’t go anywhere- I was stuck in the farthest check-out line, which also happened to be the longest one. Sigh

“Are you trying to get past me?”  the lady ahead of me in line asked me.

“Oh no, just waiting in line… I love your coat, by the way!  It’s so festive!” When she turned, I noticed how beautiful she was- she wore a cranberry colored coat with ruffles down the front and a silver scarf around her neck that made her salt and pepper hair shimmer.  Her eyes were sky-blue and her face glowed.  I felt an instant connection to her.

She gave me a half smile and admitted that she had bought it a long time ago, and that it used to be big on her. With tears in her eyes, she confessed that she had looked in the mirror that morning and was disgusted with herself- for the weight she had gained and for how she looked.

“And the crazy thing is that this was my dream… when I was a young girl, I was tall and skinny- when it was so “in” to be plump.  I wanted to be plump and curvy when I grew up! Now that I am living my “dream”, I want more than anything to be that skinny girl again.”

She spoke with tears in her eyes, and I found it so ironic that this gorgeous woman (who, by the way, was NOT overweight at all…and was stunningly beautiful) did not recognize the beauty that was so easy for me to see.

“Oh my goodness!  You are beautiful just the way you are!” I said to her.

We hugged one another, as she poured her heart out to me- right there in the grocery check-out line.

Then, with determination, she exclaimed that she was going to live for the now…and that she was going to stop lamenting over who she was, or who she wanted to be. We talked about how blessed we both were.  To have good health, a family, clothing… to be able to buy the food that was in our shopping carts. I told her of how I was searching for the perfect Christmas ham, but hadn’t been able to find one that was reasonably priced.

“You know, I have a friend that owns a butcher shop.  I will give you her phone number when I get out to the car!  That is where I go to buy all of my meat these days!”

Both of us had left our phones in the car. I told her where my next stop was- just across the street.  She said that was her next stop, too.

“I’ll see you there, and I will give you her phone number!”

I felt an immediate connection to this lady.  It was like God put her there to just give me that message-

live for NOW… not yesterday, not tomorrow… NOW! 

I got my groceries, put them into the car, and headed to my next stop.

I searched up and down the meat aisles looking for a ham, and watching for my new friend and her festive cranberry coat to come waltzing through the door…

And just when I had lost all hope of finding a ham, I found an entire aisle of them- perfectly pre-baked honey-glazed-to-perfection hams at a fraction of the price of the first ones I had found!

I never saw that lady again, but I will never forget her honest, earnest words- and how she said to me the exact thing I needed to hear-

live for Now… not yesterday, not tomorrow… NOW!

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  

Matthew 6:34