Meeting the Christ

I was in a Meijer’s Thrifty Acres the other night, not the highest-class store around and not in a very affluent neighborhood. While I was looking at cell phone accessories, into my peripheral vision approached a slow-moving figure. It was an old black lady wheeling one of those tiny carts that holds an oxygen tank. The cart had merchandise covering it, so I didn’t see what was in it. She was big and heavy and so bundled up against the cold outside that I wasn’t sure if it was a man or a woman until she spoke.

“Boy I just don’t know about these cell phones,” she confided to me. Her voice was strong, even cheerful. “I need one, but I can’t afford one of those plans. I just want to get one of these ones where ya pay as you go.”

She was speaking pretty loudly and there was no one else around but me, so I figured I should converse with her, being friendly myself and not in a big hurry. “I hear ya,” I said. I looked at her and saw in her big smile that she was missing some teeth.

She turned back to the racks of phones. “Hmmm,” she said after a moment. “Here’s one for seven dollars and somethin’. That’s a good price!”

“You know,” I said, “I think that’s just for the phone. Then you have to buy the minutes separately. At least, I think that’s right.”

I moved closer to see what she was looking at. She held out the cheap green phone that almost looked like a toy in its plastic package. “Yeah, I think you have to buy the minutes separately.”

“Oh!” she said. “Is that right? Do I get one these other things over here?” She gestured to some cards, also encased in plastic.

“You know, I’m not sure how you do it. I’ve never had one. I think you should ask someone at the counter over there. They should be able to tell you.” I pointed to the sales desk at the end of the aisle. “I don’t want to tell you the wrong thing.”

“Alright, that’s a good idea,” she nodded and trundled her way over to the desk.

Soon she was back with a young sales girl, who walked hurriedly ahead of her. “OK, when you purchase the phone you also have to buy a card like this to get the minutes for it,” said the sales girl quickly, pointing at the racks of minute cards.

“Oh, is that right?” said the lady conversationally. “I see. They cost more than the phone!”

“Yes, when you purchase the phone you also have to buy the card with the minutes on it,” the girl repeated impatiently. She clearly didn’t want to have an in-depth conversation.

“Oh, alright then,” said the woman sweetly. “So I guess I’ll have to choose one of these…” At that point, I walked away to do more shopping.

As I was paying the cashier for my purchases, the old lady was checking out in the lane next to me. I couldn’t help overhearing her chatting pleasantly, “Yes, indeed, it sure is cold out there! I’m about ready for spring to come now.” She was smiling all the while, bringing humanity to the impersonal exchange of customer and cashier.

As I left, I thought to myself, “She is really good-natured, considering her physical, medical, and most likely financial burdens. Boy, it makes me feel like I have no problems at all by comparison. And I didn’t see her wearing an oxygen tube; maybe she uses that cart to carry her purchases home… And on such a cold night, too!”

Then I thought of the Joan Osbourne song, “What If God Were One of Us?” The lyrics say, “What if God were one of us? Just a guy like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home…”

And I was reminded of Judith Coates, a visiting medium from Washington state who channeled Jesus (known as Jeshua) at my spiritual center this past fall. Through her, Jeshua said that He sometimes likes to appear in a body and walk around a mall, silently blessing people. I do believe in angels also, and I like to think that this is one way that masters such as Jesus and light beings such as archangels can interact with us.

And then it struck me that this very outgoing, amorphous soul may very well have been the Christ in disguise! Perhaps trying to teach compassion. You never know. At the least, she was mirroring the God in all of us. Either way, it was a very simple and beautiful experience.