Shopping Carts: An Analogy (The Case of the Wayward Shopping Cart)

Shopping Carts: An Analogy

The Case of the Wayward Shopping Cart

After she walked into the entrance of Walmart, she discarded the first shopping cart that she picked in favor of another one. As she pulled it out and started pushing it inside the entrance of Walmart, past the fruits and vegetables section, she found that it was a wayward shopping cart. Oh no! She thought. How am I going to push this thing around? The thought raced through her mind, Why don't you get another one? But she was too far gone and didn't see the point in turning back now. As she pushed it past the frozen food aisle, it began to swerve to the left, then the right, at its own accord. She struggled to push it in the right direction. As she pushed it down the clearance aisle in search of deals, it swerved to the right and crashed in the aisle, causing five or six mugs to crash onto the floor. She stooped down to pick up the mugs. By the end of her shopping adventure, although she was tired and gladly pushed the cart into it's proper place, she was thrilled to that she had chosen that wayward cart, as it had taught her some very valuable lessons by the end of the ride.

Have you ever chosen a shopping cart while shopping, only to find that it is wayward? Happens to me all the time, but this time God opened my eyes to a important truth. Wayward is defined as, "difficult to control or predict because of unusual or perverse behavior." In our walk as christians, God wants us to relinquish our will to Him. He wants to lead us in our everyday walk. When we pull our own way it can only end in disaster. Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." So everyday we should strive to be obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. But if we become proud and start to go our own way, we will fall into the trouble for Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." In the narrative above, when my basket went crashing into the aisle it was because although I was steering it in the right direction (which the Holy Spirit does) it chose to move in it's own direction which caused it to wreak havoc. We can wreak havoc in our lives when we ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit. So with each new day we should strive to obey the Spirit because we have a wonderful Father who only wants the best for us and leads us into green pastures (Psalm 23:2) but if we disobey we can't reap the benefits and have the overwhelming joy that He wants to bless us with.

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