Sonoma Vineyard Grapes Photo by Dee Kamp
Honesty Is the Best Policy
It was a quick stop at Costco-honest. The basket wasn’t bulging with bargains and I
felt like I had feathers instead of feet as I unloaded my mere three items
purchased that day. It was a day of accomplished errands done as planned ―or so
I thought until I got home!
“But as for me and my
household we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15 NIV
Whenever I walk into my kitchen my eyes always look above
the window and rest with on those words from Joshua 24:15.
On this particular day, after driving several miles and
several hours away from home on my errands, the discipline and obedience to
keep my promise to God would mean a special effort, time and inconvenience.
Glancing at the sales slip from Costco I noticed that one
item had not been rung up! How did it get missed by the person at the door? “Oh,
well, I said to my husband, “I’ll just take care of it when I’m back that way
in a couple of days.”
But I was completely unprepared
for the response at the checkout line when I got there to pay for the item! I explained what happened and showed the checker the item
she needed to ring up was missing. She just stared at me and said, “Why? Why
did you bother to come back?”
Out of my mouth flew, “Because my mother raised me right I
guess." I said with a nervous
laugh.
She was so perplexed that she called over her supervisor. Now
people were stretching their necks to see what the holdup was and I felt the
pressure of delaying them. The
supervisor stared at the sales slip, and then up at me for some time. I really
felt the line behind me closing in and the man who boxes up things seemed to be
enjoying all this tremendously nodding and smiling oddly.
Shaking her head the supervisor said, “Really? You came back all this way to pay for this? Well okay then,
we hardly see such honesty.”
Goodness, now I’m embarrassed at all the attention and the
supervisor made me feel foolish besides. The cashier rung up the unpaid item
and said, “My goodness, you just made my day.”
T’was not to be the end of this surprising reaction by so
many. I got the to the door where the person marks off your sales slip and sure
enough the woman stopped and looked at me puzzled. I filled her in to the oversight.
She too shook her head and looked up at
me and said, “Thank you for your honesty. It’s refreshing!”
I started laughing at all the fuss on the way to my car, but
in a way this all made me feel sad too. I know lots and lots of honest people in
our family and our community, but it was obvious to me now the world out there
sees less and less of it.
I had no idea the Lord was going to use me as an example
that day. Certainly it was a good lesson for me to realize even the smallest
oversight of a payment matters to God. Nothing is missed by God, and He is able
to use our obedience to serve Him in many unique and surprising ways. Honesty
is still is the best policy to show others Jesus is in our hearts every day.
“Honesty Is the Best
Policy” by Dee Kamp, Grace Every Morning Ministries© November 20, 2014
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