Deeper Thoughts from my Online Grocery Shopping Experience

I really, really wanted to like shopping for groceries online.  It seems everyone is doing it these days and raving about what a time saver it is. And if there is anything I want more of, it’s time.

But I was hesitant to try because it seemed daunting (even time-consuming) to select my items online and build a recurring list. So every Monday morning I kept pushing my cart through my local store Crest. And every Monday I kept passing “Shipt” shoppers. Until one recent Sunday night when stress over my graduate school coursework + everything else became greater than my hesitations and I decided to try it. Not Shipt, but Walmart Pick-up.

To my surprise the one thing that had been holding me back was super easy. No wonder people liked this so much. I was excited thinking about the time I would gain back on Mondays.

The next morning as I left the gym I clicked the link on my Walmart App letting them know I was coming. A few minutes later I slid into my Walmart parking spot and almost instantly my car was being loaded. The customer service rep let me know about a couple of substitutions and while it wasn’t yogurt I would pick, I accepted. It wasn’t enough to burst my bubble.

That came after I arrived home.

When I opened my trunk there was a sea of plastic. So many plastics bags; many with just one item! When I shop I place like items together on the conveyor belt so they get bagged together, which makes for easy unloading at home. Definitely not the case that morning. It took lots of trips to bring everything in, plus all that plastic.

I tried not to let it bother me because hey, they shopped for me. But then I pulled out the tiniest cluster of grapes and green beans enough for two, not four. Clearly, I underestimated weights. Next time I’ll know, but for this week I would have to go back to the store for more.

Turns out I would be going back to the store anyway. I only thought I had saved money. Really, I had forgotten things left and right!

Later in the day as I was processing my unmet expectations of my online grocery shopping experience, I couldn’t escape feeling something even more consequential than too many bags and missed items.

In eliminating grocery shopping that day I had missed the opportunity to connect with the lady at the deli who I always talk to. And Shirley, my favorite cashier. I always try to get in her line. I also normally run into a friend or two. Although now that I think about it, it’s been weeks since I’ve run into anyone—it seems only Shipt shoppers and the folks off the nursing home van are there.

Connecting with people over short conversations in the grocery store seems like a small thing. Is it really worth the extra time of actual grocery shopping?

Maybe, maybe not. But we are called to community and to embody Christ to one another. But the more time-saving, people-reducing tasks we adopt, the less we engage or even think outside ourselves.

Besides online grocery shopping, now days we order Starbucks ahead so we don’t have to wait in line. With no line, no people to strike up a conversation with or patience to practice. We have dry cleaning delivery. We can weigh and stamp our packages at home. We can send a text or email instead of making a call. We can workout in our homes in front of DVD. Even stay in bed and watch church!

I’m not saying there aren’t benefits to some of these modern conveniences. And I’m not judging you if online grocery shopping is your thing. In fact, one good friend told me online grocery shopping frees her to be able to spend unrushed time each week with her mentor, which is awesome.

But I do want to push us to think theologically about even our routines. To realize how our values inform our decisions even in the mundane things of life, maybe in ways we havn’t thought of. A few questions we might ask ourselves:

• In what ways do I prioritize personal conveniences, my time and agenda over people?
• Have I isolated myself so much that I go through my days without engaging in conversations?
• Where can I slow down to be more purposeful with others?
• Have I been to self-consumed with my own world, family even, to have the eyes to see other’s brokenness?
• What would it look like to think more missional about my day/time?
• Am I in the habit of showing hospitality? And if not, why?
• Am I part of any regular groups where I am truly known, and know what’s going on with others?

Whether you are in a grocery store or on your driveway with the Shipt shopper, going about other errands, at the work water cooler, sitting somewhere waiting to pick up a kid, getting on a plane or whatever else you do, my hope in writing this is you would be more mindful of who is around you and how you might be a beacon of light to their day.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Just some food chew on—because theology matters in the every day.