Pick the Short Line?

You always pick the short line. At McDonalds, at the grocery store, at the bank, at the stadium. And, of course, your line magically becomes the slowest movement of humanity on record. It happens too often to be coincidence. Well, at least it seems that way.

But we always pick the short line. We pick the line that we believe will get us out the fastest. That is such an obvious choice, we never even think about why. Maybe it's our spirit of competition. Many times I have challenged friends to the grocery line derby. You know the rules. Whoever gets checked out first wins.

If our line takes too long, we consider it some sort of punishment or moral failing. Wasting time is immoral to us.

But what if we intentionally choose the line that we believe will be the slowest? We might get out to the parking two minutes later than we could have. What were we going to do with those two minutes anyway?

It's time to notice our habits of time saving. Maybe we are too focused on saving time. There might be a stranger in line who needs a kind word. There might be someone who needs help reaching an item on a high shelf. There might be a person in the parking lot that God wants to put in your path.

I'm a whole lot more intent on finding the fastest line than I am finding the person whom God wants me to love. That needs to change.