Never Grocery Shop Alone

It’s time to grocery shop.

I’ve made my list, checked my budget, and clipped my coupons. There’s only one thing left to do—call a teenager.

What? You don’t take teenagers with you on your weekly runs to the grocery store? Let me encourage you to start.

For years, I’ve been passionate about mentoring younger women. God has given me a hunger for living out the principles of modeling godliness and training younger women laid out by Titus 2. I’ve focused most of my efforts in this area toward the teenagers I encounter at my church.

Despite my passion, for many years I struggled to make time for mentoring. With a busy work and family life, I found it really tough to carve out the time needed to take girls out to lunch, attend their school and sporting events, and engage them through individual counseling and Bible study. Despite my best intentions, I just couldn’t keep up with the demands on my time that mentoring required.

Then I discovered the secret—never grocery shop alone. Now I make a conscious decision to invite girls to come with me as I run my routine errands. I take them grocery shopping with me. I invite them to hang out with me at home on days when I have nothing more exciting or spiritual to do than laundry and cleaning. I ask them to come over and help me cook dinner. And you know what? They love it.

I’ve stopped trying to schedule mentoring. I’m done trying to model godliness from inside Starbucks. I simply invite girls into every crevice of my life. I live transparently in front of them, and I work hard not to miss any teachable moments when the opportunity to speak God’s truth in love presents itself.

They payoff is two-fold. Lessons about maintaining a godly home, loving my husband, raising godly kids, and serving those around me are better learned by doing than by hearing. Modeling is a better teaching tool than preaching. Because of that, I am able to impact the lives of the girls I mentor more effectively. The payoff for me is sustainability. I have time to mentor because I weave it into the fabric of my real life. I can’t imagine that I’ll stop going to the grocery store, cleaning my house, or cooking dinner for my family any time soon. Every one of those activities provides a built in opportunity for me to live out Titus 2 in front of a pair of younger eyes.

You can be a Titus 2 woman. You can have a huge impact on the next generation. You can be a truth speaker to the young women around you who need it so desperately. It all starts in the produce aisle.