The Hat Lady

Today I made my usual weekly run to Target to buy things like toilet paper, an ink cartridge for my printer, and new calendars (woohoo Happy New Year!) It was a crazy trip, one where all three of my kiddos weren't feeling well, and neither was I. It certainly took longer than I cared for the trip to take.

But something happened on this shopping trip as I was checking out. There were two ladies in front of me. One lady looked like she had already been through the check out at Target already, she had a bag with toilet paper in it (see, I'm not the only person that goes to Target to buy toilet paper) and it looked like she had gotten back in line to purchase two hats.

As this woman got up to the cash register, I could tell she was having a bit of a dispute with the cashier over the price of one of the hats. One hat was on clearance and the other was not, however she had thought both were on clearance. The “hat lady” did not look happy and agreed to purchase both hats at the price they rang up. She gave the cashier $20, however she was still short the rest of the money. She looked upset.

That's when the lady in front of me decided to pay the difference for her. Right then I was moved thinking about what just happened. The women in front of me who did not know the “hat lady” paid the difference of her bill for her. This woman could do nothing for her in return, and to be honest the “hat lady” was a bit distraught and I'm not even sure she understood what just happened.

Isn't that how it is with us though? We give God all we can, our good deeds here and there. We expect the price of salvation to be less than what it actually is. We have no idea what the cost of salvation is, if we did then we wouldn't be so foolish to believe that we could even achieve this on our own… then as we approach the throne we bring our payment only to find that we do not have enough good deeds, or money, to get us what we want, salvation. Then Jesus steps in and not only pays the difference for us, but pays our debt in full without ever wanting or expecting anything in return.

I doubt the “hat lady” realized the parallel of what happened to her today at Target and what Jesus did for her on the cross. But I do hope that today her faith in God and His provision in her life grew just a little bit bigger and hopefully she will be able to see Him working in her life a little bit more every single day…