Grocery shopping during this pandemic will give you lots of opportunities to “yield in love.” It’s strange how quickly things become normalized: masks in public, enforced entry/exit doors, and those little “Shop This Way” stickers on the store aisle floors. You know the ones I’m talking about, right? Oh come on, surely you do…those brightly colored stickers that people just walk right over and ignore š yeah, those. I have to confess that every time I go by one of those, I instantly hear it in the style of “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith š. It is a much more fun way to be told how to go down each aisle…just sayin’.
Anyways, I was doing some shopping (and yes, going the right direction) when a few of us were met head-on by people who were going the opposite direction. The “wrong” way for those of you keeping score š. At first, we all just stared at each other and waited to see who would scoot over first. Masks sure do make non-verbal communication much harder! Slowly, we took turns making room for each other until everyone was able to grab their items and pass by.
Love Is and Love Is Not
As I watched each cart yield, my mind went to this very familiar passage:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Even if you don’t claim to be a Christian, I can almost guarantee that you’ve heard this read at a wedding or seen it on a piece of home decor.
The part I heard over and over in my head was “it does not insist on its own way.” I have to confess, I am not super good at yielding. I am bossy by nature and know what I want and how I want it done…and I know what you should want too, by the way š .
Learning to Yield
Sometimes, it’s relatively easy to yield.
- Do you really have to have the thermostat set where you always like it?
- Is it a big deal to let your significant other choose the restaurant tonight?
- What about what you watch on TV as a family?
Of course, sometimes it is really challenging to yield.
- Do you have to have the last word?
- Can you let others have their own opinion? (Without being snarky)
- What about a parenting style disagreement?
Learning to yield is something that takes practice. It doesn’t come naturally to most of us and in our heads, we have good reasons for why we want it our way. But like they say, life isn’t like Burger King and you can’t always “have it your way.”
When tempers and stress levels are high, it can be even more difficult to yield. Those are the times where everyone needs an extra dose of grace. I usually enjoy grocery shopping – I get to leave the girls with my husband, grab an iced coffee, and I take my sweet time doing it (and try my hardest not to grab everything in Aldi’s Aisle of Shame š¤·āāļø). Grocery shopping during this pandemic is not my favorite thing. Was the aisle congestion annoying? Yes. But was it really a big deal? No, not at all.
Practice Makes Perfect
What are some ways that you can practice learning to yield?
You could…
- let the person who waited til the last possible second to merge in (UGH!)
- ask (and follow!) someone else’s opinion of how to complete a task
- give the spot in line to the other person when you arrive at the same time
Just a few ideas š.
Simply being kind to others seems to be a dying art. For some additional tips on how to be kind (and the power behind it!) check out my friend Kemi’s post on her blog, Fine Stewards.
Learning to yield to strangers in the grocery store and your family members are different degrees of difficulty, but all are a way of showing love.