It was only a few weeks ago that I went for the first time to Aldi’s, that is, for my groceries. We had only been home from our Christmas trip for a day, and I needed to stalk up after being away for twelve days.
In a moment of sanity, I thought, you know, I should try Aldi : I have extra time, I need to save back some cash in the budget, and it seems like now would be a good time.
So I did it.
I’d heard from the experts to go slowly so that I could find what I needed – Aldi’s has a lot of their own store brand, which doesn’t always look familiar at first glance. There were plenty of produce selections and other options that I normally would buy – just not in the popular brands you see in commercials.
I left the store with twice the groceries for half the price. My cart filled to the brim, and my heart a little happy, I thought to myself, “Why didn’t I do this sooner!? What a great way to save money! I’m such a good housewife.”
After loading up my car, I walked my cart back to the store front: I even left the quarter behind in the cart’s slot for someone else to use. My step was light walking thru the parking lot, my ego just a little swollen from all the good deeds of the day.
As I drove away, I heard a voice chiding me quietly. I turned up my worship music and sang along so I didn’t have to listen, but it didn’t matter. I knew what it was saying.
Of course I knew WHY I hadn’t gone to Aldi’s before.
You know, I have loved going to Publix for groceries… the store is shiny, spotless, clean. The produce is sparkly and the selection is enormous. The store clerks are super friendly and help you to your car. They know how to make you feel fantastic, even slightly spoiled! But those aren’t the only reasons I went to Publix and not Aldi…
The truth is, I wanted to buy what I wanted without counting the cost. I wanted to shop somewhere that made me feel important. and I wanted everyone to think that we had enough money that saving cash at the grocery store wasn’t necessary.
(As I type this, my thought processes seem a bit foolish and terribly immature… )
Over the last year, as groceries sky-rocketed in cost, I came to realize my idealism (*read pride*) had to end. I needed to be humble ; I had to stop blowing up my grocery budget every week! Do you know what I found? Humility is REALLY HARD when pride is in the way.
So, that’s WHY it took so long for me to start shopping at Aldi’s.
After that first afternoon of bargain shopping, I realized something important ; It is really freeing to not be held hostage by what people think, or what you believe they might think.
Pride is a terrible sin that manipulates our hearts. It might be about trivial things like clothes, body weight or shape, education, workouts, success, performance at work, a well decorated home, – or any other number of important things like our marriage, or our children, spirituality or in my case, where you grocery shop… actions with pride as a motivator – continuing for the sake of what other people think, is a trap. a sinful trap.
There is good news. His name is Jesus. With great love He came to earth, lived and died – and claimed victory over sin and death. That includes victory over one of the most sins to deal with: pride. But His love is strong enough to convince the most prideful, (that would be me) for my need of Him. And his grace extends to forgive me of the ugliest sins.
And guess what?!? Even more good news! This same Jesus frees me from pride by promising that I don’t have to contend with “others”- no matter who that might be! My need to please others or “keep up appearances” can be set aside- and I can do that when I realize just how much He loves me.
Thank you Heavenly Father for being a God who frees me by the power of your Love! Give me grace to live humbly before you because of that love. amen.
daily portion 