Inventory Time
Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (Colossians 3:12-14) . “It’s time to inventory.” How I hated those words when, as a teenager, I was working at the local five and dime. I wasn’t alone, either. Everyone from the manager on down, dreaded inventory. It meant long hours of counting everything on the counters, under the counters, and in the stock room, without the aid of modern conveniences like calculators and computers. Everything from socks to screws, paint to powder puffs, and pounds of candy and nuts to nylon hoses. It was a time-consuming task but necessary in order to determine not only what was on hand but what needed to be ordered from wholesalers. There was another ups...