Lessons learned while pumping gas.

I'm not quite sure what it says about me, but I've always liked "pay at the pump". The convenience, the speed, not having to walk across the gas station lot to go inside to pay the bill. Just swipe your card, get your receipt, and go. But of late I've had several times that the pump either doesn't have paper in it or I get a message on the screen that says, "The cashier has your receipt." Aaaaggghhh!!!!! If I wanted to go inside I wouldn't have swiped my card outside. I was convinced that a gas chain with a headquarters office in my hometown was deliberately not putting cash register tape in the machines just to annoy me!

Then on the way to Michigan I got to thinking...perhaps God is trying to get my attention. Why do we constantly have to be in a hurry? Would the world come to a complete standstill if I took the time to go inside, interact with a human and pay my bill?

That's the other lesson, not only should I slow down, but more importantly I should be interacting with other human beings. Jesus did tell us to be the "salt of the earth." In order to do that we need to get out of the salt shaker don't we? And while I may not share scripture with everyone I contact, I could share a smile and a kind word.

Something I will definitely have to work on when that machine is out of receipt paper!