The Price of Beans

For me, shopping at the grocery store is a tactical operation. I do not go into it lightly. I have my grocery list, my stack of coupons and my phone set up with my online digital coupons. You might find me standing in an aisle trying to figure if the cost per dishwasher tablet in the 30-count pack is still a better value than the 20-count pack if the 20-count is on sale but I have a coupon for the 30-count.

I am in my own world – don’t bother me. I’m thinking… and maybe doing calculus.

And that’s where I was the other day – in the canned vegetable aisle – comparing the price of the name brand can of kidney beans with the cheaper store brand if the name brand is on a two-for-one sale.

That’s when the voice cut in asking if I knew where the dices tomatoes were. I walked a few feet down the aisle and showed her where the tomato products were kept – diced, paste, puree, sauce, whole. The whole shebang.

Then she began to talk. She thanked me for helping her find it and told me what she would be making and how long the recipe has been in the family and the last time she made it and who was at the dinner and what they had for dessert. From there she progressed to holidays, vacations, church, her car breaking down and more I can’t remember.

We were in it about twenty minutes by then. I got a few words in. A few head nods. A few “uh-huhs”. I was behind schedule. My husband will wonder what is taking so long – no he won’t. He knows grocery shopping is a religious experience for me and he never has expectations for when I’ll be home. Just sometime before the dog needs to be fed.

I’m there in the aisle. Never did figure out which was the better value on the beans when she says it.

Her son just died. A fast growing cancer. By the time they got the diagnosis, he was gone.

And right there in the middle of that grocery store – in the “don’t touch world of Covid” – I put my arms around her while she cried. I held her and I prayed over her.

Not long ago, one of my books had gotten wet. It dried up okay but some of the pages were a little crinkled. It was readable but it wasn’t saleable. So I had been carrying it around with me and I had prayed a little prayer that God would lead me to give it to the right person.

The book? Christopher’s Story; A Dog’s Walk through John 3:16. How does it end? A scene in Heaven of a mother hugging her son who had gone there before her.

I put it in her hands and said “this was meant for you.”

You know the saying – Everyone we meet is going through some kind of battle. I’m telling myself to listen more, to pay attention to the pain behind the prattle, and not worry about the price of beans.