"Is this all you do - see people in and out the door?" Ed asked me at WalMart. Ed was in Yorkton for machinery parts and his wife, Ruby, wanted to stop at our store.
"That's pretty much it," I replied, "but being a WalMart greeter is a lot harder than it looks."
"I can't see how," Ed answered, as if the subject was closed in his mind.
"Think of it this way - I'm to be courteous to everyone all the time. Being my next door neighbour you must know I'm not real good at being pleasant to anyone, right?
"When you put it that way, I can see this job would be tough for you as you're cranky side will have to be hidden," observed Ed.
I agreed with Ed and I asked him if there was anything I could help him with at the store. Ed wanted me to suggest a good anniversary gift.
"How about buying your wife jewelry?" I asked.
"No, she doesn't need any of that stuff. It's too expensive anyway," answered Ed. After ignoring several more fruitless suggestions, Ed went off to spot his own anniversary gift and I was left to seeing people in and out the door in an agreeable manner. Ruby came along looking for Ed and I told her that Ed was off hunting her anniversary present.
"He is not hunting a present for me. He is off exploring the hardware, automotive and fishing sections of the store. I'll get the same dumb card with a five dollar gift certificate that I always get," Ruby observed. Then she added in leaving, "We got married for better or worse - he couldn't do better, I couldn't do any worse. It is just as our truck bumper sticker says."
There are also endless bumper stickers on how to deal with people. Yet, it seems to me that when we deal with people, especially strangers at a store, the Bible has something to say about the best way to do it. It says you are to speak to an older man as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers and younger women as sisters. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Jesus said it this way, "Love your neighbour as yourself." That means treat others, especially those you hardly know, like you might meet them in heaven someday.
There is a story of a WalMart greeter who died and went to heaven. There, his job was to greet people entering heaven. St. Peter was standing at the door of heaven beside him.
The greeter was to say in heaven much like he had said on earth, "Good morning/afternoon/evening. Welcome! Good to see you." In heaven, the greeter was able to call each person at the door of heaven by their name.
Upon entering heaven and being greeted by the heavenly greeter, many turned to St. Peter. They said, "We used to say hello to Bob as the greeter at the WalMart store on earth." "That's right," answered St. Peter, "Go on into heaven." But some said to St. Peter, "I have no idea who that old geezer is. I have never seen him before." "That's wrong," answered St. Peter, "you saw him on Earth often, but you never treated him as if you might meet him in heaven. Move on down the road."
Loving your neighbour as yourself means we are all on the way to heaven. It means we act in a courteous, pleasant manner to each other as we meet in our daily life.
