How ya doing I asked the young man at the gas station. I got the normal mumbled response, okay and a return volley, “how are you?”. I answered energetically “hanging in there”. And as he told me what I owed, and I pulled cash from my wallet, there was silence until I handed him the money and we made eye contact. He smiled and started talking...and I started listening. He was looking forward to the day off tomorrow and today was payday. I winked at him and said, “Don’t spend all your money tomorrow!” He proceeded to tell me about his friend that he was hanging out with; they’ve been friends since first grade. The rest of the story doesn’t really matter.
I walked back to my car, thanking God for that interaction. You see, I was kind of ticked, because I just needed wiper fluid for my car and the first store didn’t have it and I was in a hurry, because I had to be nowhere, and it was cold and windy and just inconvenient. And then I met this young man, who was just doing his job as the cashier at the gas station. I would have missed the chance to listen and hear his story: the pride in how much he worked and what a blessing his four buddies from first grade are to him.
My question: how many times we ask people, “How Ya Doing” and NEVER listen to the answer or really don’t care. Yep, I do that a lot. I’m going to change that and when I ask somehow how they’re doing, I’m going to look them in the eye and see them and take those few extra minutes to recognize what blessing other humans are in my life, even if only for a moment.
