Restitution

Restitution- the act of making good or compensating for loss, damage, or injury.

The other day, after receiving valentines with a few dollars enclosed from grandma and grandpa, the children and I decided to head to the Dollar Store. Having "two" dollars to spend at the dollar store, for a 3 years old little girl, is quite a dream come true. So for half an hour, Reese, walked around all the aisles trying to decide the "perfect" two things to get with her valentine money. After much laborious looking, she settled her little heart on a carebear ball and cute little hair bands (for that "beautiful" new haircut ) While we were sending our items through the checkout, as Reese's ball crossed the scanner it rang up as a item that had been recalled. So the cashier took the ball and said, "I'm sorry, we can't sell this to you." As I stood there a bit shocked, Reese's second item that she spent half an hour searching for also rang up as an item that needed to be recalled. We sent 20 items through the checkout (Quiz: 20 items at the "Dollar Store"- would be how much $?) but only two were recalled which happened to be the two things my precious little 3 years old daughter had desperately wanted. As I stood there, holding Reese in my arms as she began to sob realizing that she was not going to get her precious "two" things, my heart was a bit disturbed. There was a line of people behind me. I was in a bit of a hurry needing to be home soon. I had 4 of my 5 children with me (crazy, I know.) We had already been there for probably 45 minutes. I had to think fast. So I paid for my now 18 items. Stepped out of line and prayed that desperate prayer, "Jesus! How do I handle this?"It felt so wrong. There I stood with my daughter sobbing, and the clerk simply said, "sorry." At that moment I thought, "I have 3 options.

1. I can go express my anger at the situation and "go off" on the management.
2. I can simply leave, not saying a thing, but having an "issue" with my beloved Dollar Store
3. I can follow the teaching of my Creator, who cares deeply about justice, relationships, and our hearts, and go "speak the truth in love" and seek restitution.

So, I gathered my four children, one of them still sobbing, and calmly approaced the management (who knew me a little since I happen to spend a "little" time there). I said, "Sir, you know I love this store. However, something just happened that has left a sour taste in my mouth and I was wondering if we could work something out to ease the pain in my heart. I told him what happened. He asked what would "ease the pain?" I said, "Maybe you could give my daughter a special balloon or give her some coupons for the Dollar store." And so, Reese received a special, big Monkey balloon. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Peace. Now, certainly, it was still a bummer. We still had to walk around and find 2 new items she desired. However- God's ways are best! If I had approaced the management in a fit of anger- our buyer/seller relationship would have been destroyed and he may have not given me restitution. If I had left there without "speaking the truth in love" I would have had a "seed of bitterness." But after having followed God's ways,