How stupid I felt the other day!

I was just about to load my shopping at the supermarket checkout, when a voice over the intercom drew my attention. “Would the owner of the car with the registration.....” I listened with wide eyes. “Ooh, that’s mine” I uttered and faces peered round at me with great interest .“ Perhaps someone’s bumped into it”, I thought. However, a manager met me and said that it was gently rolling back, as the brake was not on. “Leave your shopping!“ she said. I raced out, and there was a smiling assistant guarding my little blue car. It was back in place with stones under the wheels. The staff were kindness itself.

I was left wondering why I hadn’t acted automatically when I had done it thousands of times before in my life.

Then I thought about other things we do automatically, and should we be more “mindful” – that’s the in word, isn’t it ?- about locking the house, turning off the hose, switching off the gas ?

Then I thought of our spiritual mind-set. Is that on automatic ? “No I don’t believe in God, never have”, or “Well, I’m a good person, so I don’t need God, do I?” or “ I go to church at Christmas, that’s enough isn’t it ?

“ Look out! Something may happen that challenges your automatic mind-set so that you find yourself considering God seriously.

Elspeth Jackman, Christchurch St.Albans

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