Shopping

My wife is one of those people that say that they don’t like to shop and yet it seems like she is almost always shopping. I don’t dislike shopping as long as it is on my terms. First of all, why shop when you don’t need anything? But as my wife says, sometimes you find the best deals when you don’t need it and you can save it for later. So on those rare occasions that I do go with her searching for that deal it takes me only a few minutes to see if there is a deal for me. It takes me about ten minutes to go through a large department store looking for that deal that I simply cannot refuse. I can shop through the men’s department without leaving the main walkway. If, on the rare occasion something catches my eye, then I will investigate further – maybe. I am visual. I see something I like then I will stop. Even then it doesn’t take me but a minute or two to decide if I want to make a purchase. I don’t need to ponder everything else in the store or how it might change the world economy. I don’t need to put my hands on every similar article on the shelf looking for the one with no flaws – present or future. I saw it, I decided that I could use it, I could afford it, so I make a purchase. And then go home to more important things. When I finally put my new purchase to use I find that something is wrong. A small but important part is missing, there is a scratch, or a small spot, or a tear, or something wrong that I would have seen in the store if I would have investigated just a little bit. Of course, on those occasions, I have to hear “I told you so.” Abraham’s nephew, Lot, must have been visual as well. In Genesis 13 he and Abraham had to split up because their herds had grown too large to survive on one piece of land. Abraham gave Lot the choice of where he wanted to live. So Lot, like me, quickly “scanned” the horizon. He looked around and saw “the valley”. It reminded him of how he pictured the Garden of Eden. He saw and he decided. He never considered what else was in the area, the evil that resided there. As he began to “live” there, to try out his uninformed choice, he began to see flaws – parts missing, something amiss. When he later had to flee for his life he probably thought about his rash decision to choose what looked good instead of investigating what was really good. I’m still not an advocate of long shopping trips, but maybe when I “shop” in the future I should spend more time investigating before jumping at the first thing that catches my eye. What kind of “shopper” are you? Blessings