Two Types of People: Shopping Carts

Some people love to divide the world into "two kinds of people."

"People who like pie, and people who don't."

People who like cats, and people who have issues."
One of the most common expressions that he loved to share:

"Those who put their shopping carts away, and those who don't."

One person would tell me this every time that we went to the supermarket. After we loaded up all the groceries in the car, he would have me take the shopping cart back to the stalls near the front of the parking lot.

As the years have gone by, I find such demarcations more limiting and less informative.

The main idea behind "two types of people" rests in that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. Yet the dialectic of right and wrong can create  more conflict than security.

We are not called to live by the letter of the law (2 Corinthians 3: 6), but to be led by the Spirit of God (Galatians 5: 16).

I have gone shopping for many years, and many times I take a shopping cart standing in the middle of the sidewalk. Sometimes, if I am close enough to the front of the store, I do push the shopping cart back to its stall with the other carts. Most of the time, though, I just leave it near the curb or next to one of the cement islands in the middle of the parking lot.

We are not called to do "the right thing" instead of the wrong thing. What would work in one circumstance would be uncalled for in another situation.

Frankly, we need to spend less time creating little rules of "right and wrong" for every situation in life. Let the Spirit of God lead you. Sometimes, you are doing other patrons a favor by leaving the shopping cart near the curb in the parking stall. Someone will pass by and pick it up.

The real issue for me, though, abides in the need for every person to grow beyond the traditions of our elders and seek out the certainty of the eternal God, whose Son Jesus Christ has been made wisdom for us (1 Corinthians 1: 30)

There are two types of people in this world: the sons of Adam, dead in their trespasses; the sons of God, alive in righteousness. Our standing, whether in death or life, has nothing to do with whether we put our shopping carts away or not.