Heavenly Father of All, who knows that for me, Patience is the virtue most elusive, I thank you for all the once and future cosmic two-by-fours with which You routinely instruct me.

But today I offer a grateful Thank You for all the gentle, nearly invisible lessons of it on display:

The lovely woman and her oh, so patient husband, both of whom smiled at me each of the three times we all nearly collided rounding an aisle: Towels and Rugs, Home Organization, and finally Insect Spray.

For the slender blonde woman a bit older than me, gently telling her  Momma just don’t acknowledge that and hold your head up high, no matter what they say.

All the smiling clerks, shelving Returns or shoes abandoned in Housewares, who still smiled and called to me, How you doin’ today?

And the nice young man to whom it was easy to say, You’ve only got one thing, wanna go ahead of me? who instead stopped mid-stride and helped me gather the items spilling from the counter, and still said, Thank you, when thus delayed.

Do You open my eyes to see this abundant grace, or do I choose to see it? And does that even matter? But for the sake of argument and future reference, could I get fewer two-by-fours and more lessons like today?

Amen