The other night while leaving Wal-Mart, I noticed about 600 shopping carts scattered across the gigantic parking lot. An entire conversation took place in my brain.

It was a rather nasty night out. It was cold, temp was in the 20s. It was rainy. No one wanted to be out in it… especially the Wal-Mart “cart-guy”. But he was. In only jeans, a zip-hoodie and work gloves, he was out trying to get in the several hundred stray shopping carts. I felt bad for him. Who wouldnt? He was so cold. And his entire time out there gathering up carts was due to the fact that so many people are too lazy or busy to put the cart where it goes! I happen to like putting my cart back. (Its also one of the most fun things that our Youth Group does. On random nights, we take all our kids to Wal-Mart and ask them to very calmly get all of the carts out of the parking lot and back into the store all nice and neatly. The manager and the “cart guy” especially love it when we do this. All Youth Groups should try it. Great fun!)

Is it wrong to not put your cart back in the “Return Carts Here” thing? Is it ok to just leave it right there in the vacant parking place that your car was just in? Is it fine for Wal-Mart’s hundreds of customers per hour to leave their carts anywhere they please in a quarter mile radius of the store because they have a “cart guy” who will come and bring them all in?

God tells us to “hold fast to what is good” (Rom.12:9) and to “overcome evil with good” (Rom.12:21). Shouldn’t we be willing to take 20 more seconds and put our carts back? Shouldn’t we long to be a blessing to the “cart guy” and not adding to his frustration?

Lets think about Christ being exalted in the small things of our day…even returning our carts to the “Return Carts Here” thing.