Purity

I’m in an Etsy sellers group on Facebook that gives me ideas. Often group members will post questions they have on how to handle their customers. Some customers are downright demanding others are overly anxious to get everything they can out of the seller. I have been fortunate enough to not have one of these experiences, but knew it would come eventually as I acquired more sales. My time had come. The customer purchased a personalized towel from me. The max embroidery was two words for the item. She had four. As I messaged her I did my best to be polite. The conversation became confusing as she increased the amount of words she wanted even changing the entire thing to include shapes etc. It was giving me a headache and taking a lot of time explaining this listing was limited in what I could offer her. I considered what other sellers had done. Some proudly told their customers off and cancelled the orders bragging to our group about their service. I was close to the point of cancelling, but pressed on in kindness. Finally, we settled on a design. I double checked to make sure she was completely happy before proceeding with her order. The final product turned out nice. I emailed her the final result like I normally do and received a reply- that looks nice, but that’s not what I wanted.

I was so confused! I messaged her the exact conversation where she confirmed that it was the final design and did my best to reassure her of her choice. She somewhat agreed and I mailed her order. I went back and forth over including my typical thank you items and encouragement- after all this lady had made my day more difficult, but I chose to show kindness. Then I waited. Knowing she was all over the place with this order concerned me even more that she’d leave me a bad review. I had a suspicion she was a believer though, based on some of her comments and tried to think about how Jesus would treat a fellow believer. I received an email from her the other day thanking me for my help then a five star review today. Who would have thought!

Our Bible study group was on purity today. The reason I bring up this story is because it’s often easiest to take the route traveled by most. I could have cancelled her order politely, but I would have been doing it out of annoyance. This customer would have put a bad taste in my mouth for asking more of me. Yet in the grand scheme of things does it really matter? Purity really deals with the heart. As I was thinking about purity many things stem from it. Maybe you think of purity in context of your marriage honoring your spouse in the vows you had, keeping your marriage bed sacred. Maybe purity to you is that of a child. I think it’s both and more. Our purity is our thoughts, words and actions put into play. Have a dirty heart-your actions will follow soon after. Have a clean heart and goodness will flow from you. Regardless of the outcome of that order I’m doing more than just making a towel for my customer, my business is my ministry. I want every interaction I have with people to represent my work for Christ. Our lives should be as pure as possible even down to the conditions of our hearts.

So ladies what words flow from your mouth? Are they ones that encourage, build up and bless others or do they cause God to cringe? How are you in your homes? With your families? What comes out of your mouth when you talk to your friends over the phone? I heard a believer joke once that they refuse to put any Christian emblem on their vehicle as they know their mouth will run its course when people cut them off in traffic. At least they are honest!

Purity begins with our thoughts. Dwell on something long enough you will find it flowing from your lips and eventually into your actions. Today I want to encourage you to make purity a priority in your life.