On the Border

Ever been to the border? Oh, I don’t mean a geographical border, although those can be fun to visit.  I am talking about the border between right and wrong, between good and best, between faith and feeling.  Those difficult places in which we are forced to face ourselves and make a choice that will alter our lives, sometimes irrevocably. 

I have been on the border many times.  Not too long ago, I stood on the border at Walmart (this is not a corny joke).  Here is the scenario:

I went to Walmart to pick up a few groceries using a gift card.  The gift card did not work, even though it had a balance that more than covered the amount of my purchases.  After numerous employees, managers, and personnel had come over to work their magic on the card, it still refused to scan.  Sigh.  I really would hate to be the person behind me in line.  They ended up keying in the card number and transferring the remaining balance to a new gift card, in hopes that it would work better.  Twenty minutes after scanning my card for the first time, I walked out of the store with my melting ice cream.

Several days later, in another far-off city, I again made some purchases at my less-than-favorite store.  The “new” gift card was pulled out, and the cashier told me that it probably would not scan on the customer side of the register, since the swiper/scanner thing had not been working for several months.  Then he tried to scan my card on the cashier side of the register.  Nada.  I groaned within myself as he swiped again and again, trying in vain to get the card to work.  Frantically swiping my card up and down repeatedly, he called for a manager.  My face felt hot as the people in line behind me began muttering and looking for another, faster-moving line.  After several more attempts, and even keying in the card number, it still didn’t register.  Solution:  let’s move to another register.  The manager transferred my purchases to another register, and told me to come with him.  Guess what?  He put me in front of several people who had moved to avoid being behind me in the previous lane.  {mortified}  They couldn’t believe their bad luck, either.

To make a long story short, I finally got out of the store after a very long check-out process.  I sat in the truck and glanced over my receipt, only to find that I hadn’t paid for one of my items!  Somehow, although they had picked it up and put it in the bag, it had never been scanned.  I checked the bag, to see if it really was in there, then looked at the receipt again.  Nope – definitely not there.  Rats.  I really did not want to go back into the store and go through the whole gift-card fiasco again.  I just wanted to go home!  I felt the nudging of the Holy Spirit telling me to go back and pay for the item.  That is the right thing to do.  “But I don’t want to go back in there,” I protested.  At this point, I was considering just throwing the item out the window into the parking lot and driving away.  Definitely standing on the border.  I decided to compromise.  I will call the store, tell them what happened, and see what they say.  I was hoping that they would just say something like,

“Oh, that’s okay – we overcharge people all the time, so you can just have that inexpensive item on the house.”  Really.  I was hoping that.   

It didn’t happen that way. They told me that I could just bring the item back – and pay for it.  Resignedly, I dragged myself out of the truck, grabbed the item, and went back into the store.  I was greatly relieved when the store entry sirens did not go off as I walked between them.  After another long hassle with the gift card, I walked out of the store with not only my twice-bought, once-paid-for item, but also a clean conscience.  

Sometimes the border is clearly defined, but other times it can be hard to discern through the mist of feelings that we can experience.  I have seen so many people stand on the border and make the wrong choice, and my heart aches for them.  Every choice we make helps determine our direction, and if you cross enough borders, eventually, you will end up somewhere you never intended to be.   The lesson I learned:  when faced with a choice, listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Then follow that leading!  Don’t let your feelings dictate your choices.