"About time for that new spring wardrobe?" I asked him.
"Well, not really." He smiled and looked down. "I kind of don't have anything to wear right now." He bent down and sifted through the twenty rows argyle socks. He picked the black and grey ones.
"You look well dressed to me!" He looked really nice in fact. I wondered if he needed a job. We could use another guy with some fashion sense. He was probably in his late twenties, blonde hair, clean shaven, wearing dress shoes. What did we do with those job applications?
"It's complicated I guess. She made me leave. And I didn't have time to pack anything. So....yeah. I need some clothes." Oh.
"Are you married?" It was only after asking that and wishing I hadn't did I notice his thick gold wedding band.
"For right now I guess." He offered a nervous laugh, still not looking me in the eye. I stayed behind the cash wrap as he picked more socks. Purple and grey. Teal and navy.
"I'm sure it's not all lost. How long have you been married?" Why am I asking these questions?
"Seven years." Wow. He stood after choosing his fourth pair of socks to get the four for $25 promotional deal. He set down the socks and looked at me.
"I guess the hard part is that we have a kid. He's one and a half. That's what makes it really hard, you know? We have a son. Yeah, sorry to get all serious on you. But yeah." He offered another nervous laugh and ran his hand through his hair. "That's why I need some clothes."
"Marriage is definitely hard. Trust me, I understand. Did you get married young?"
"Oh, yeah. I was 23," he said as he examined the same sweater in blue and in cream.
"Me too. I was 21." Now I was the one looking down. "And I like the cream one."
"You got married young, too? Yeah, so I'm sure you know." He set the blue sweater aside and added the cream one to the top of his pile.
"You have no idea," I said. Now who's getting weird and personal? "Well, you must. But you're certainly not alone. Marriage is hard, I'm with you."
I took his socks and set them on the other side of the desk next to his large pile. T-shirts, sweaters, a cardigan, a flannel shirt, colored dress pants, and socks. Four pairs of them. Oh, and the cream sweater.
He followed around to the other side and pulled out his wallet. "Do you have good friends in Greenville?" I asked as I started ringing and taking the censors off his new wardrobe. I wondered how long he'd have to wear these clothes. How long would it take before she let him move back in? I bet she was hurting too. I started to pray in my head.
"Oh yeah. The best. I have really good friends. Good friends from church. I think that's the best part about the whole thing. I found Jesus, or He found me rather. I always knew about God growing up, but never about a relationship with Him. Like I grew up in a Christian home and stuff. Went to church. I never really understood it though. But now I do. God had to break me in order for me to see Him clearly. And it definitely worked. I don't think He does that with everyone, but with me. It's probably the only way He could've gotten my attention. I have a lot of pride."
Wow. Tell me how you really feel.
"That's really great. It's good you see Him more clearly now. That's the most important thing. Jesus, you know."
At the sound of His name, he looked up at me for only the second time.
"I really wouldn't change my situation for the world right now, because I wouldn't have seen Him there. I used to be wild, and now I'm paying for it. She was done with it. And it sucks, but it's okay, because there's grace. God is forgiving me. There's grace with Jesus. I wouldn't change anything right now."
"Wow. That's really brave of you to say. You definitely can't out-sin the grace of God."
"I'm experiencing that for sure. Thanks for your help. And for, uh, listening? Anyways. See you later."
I handed him his bags and he was gone.
And it got me thinking, maybe there's a place for us, you know? And there's a place for the parts of ourselves we'd rather leave on shelves to collect dust. God is in the redemption business. All the stuff that happens to us and all the stuff we bring upon ourselves. He is redeeming it. God said he was making ALL things new. Not just the stuff we decide is appropriate to be redeemed or worthy of His efforts.
Do you know that you're worth His time? He thought enough of you to step out of heaven. He thought enough of His creation to breathe life into it despite it. He formed you from ash and dust. And He's redeeming you in this moment.
Do you know redemption is a process? Sanctification doesn't happen overnight.
It's an uphill, gravel road. And we're all barefoot.
Remember what I said about letting no place be left unlit? (If not, you can read about it here.) Even in a retail store, God cared enough to remind a guy whose marriage was falling apart and the girl ringing him up at the counter of the truth we all so often forget and so often need to be reminded of:
you are not alone. You are never alone.
