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This weekend, we were singing at Wal-Mart in the nearby town of Newark, NY. I happen to be friends with the GM of that store, and he sets us up in the front of the store to sing Christmas tunes for a couple hours on a busy holiday Saturday. This was our second straight year.

Last year we discovered that Wal-Mart has some pretty strict rules regarding other organizations or groups coming in and promoting themselves in any way. We thought then that we might perhaps make some sales with a small little display right near us… holiday shoppers who liked the music could get a CD. Seemed good. But, if you want to sell something at or even near Wal-Mart, you must go through their central office in Bentonville, AR, and they will put the product in EVERY store. (Which was not going to happen for our happy little CD.)

So, we asked if we could just put up a little poster that told people who we were, and showed that we have CDs, and then gave our web address. Nope. That was no good either. At one store, they let us post the sign, but placed a big strip of paper over our CDs! (They’re serious!) 🙂

But this season, it was just a fun time, so we decided to do it again, even with nothing for us to gain. Wal-Mart was not paying us, we couldn’t sell any CDs, we can’t even tell anyone we have CDs!

So, there we are… two people sitting on stools with a guitar and a music stand… singing Christmas songs. Smiling, happy… and singing. We got lots of smiles. Kids loved to stop and watch. But the best part of the day was watching the several people who walked by with a bit of an inquisitive look on their faces trying to figure out why we were there. What did we want from them? Who were we representing?

Nothing! Nobody! We’re just singing! 🙂

But that’s not possible! We must want something????

Nope. 🙂

And that reminded me of a previous post where I was frustrated by people’s agendas. I was especially speaking of Christians, and their hidden agendas in forming relationships with people or in the public events that are planned with ulterior motives. But one of the comments was from an international friend of ours, who pointed out that having an agenda for everything was a very cultural, American thing. Boy was that evident at Wal-Mart on Saturday!!! Everyone expected we wanted somethingfrom them, or were promoting something… but… we weren’t!!! Crazy!

In the past, we have. We were either wanting to promote basic… so perhaps people would buy a CD, or we’d make a connection to do another concert. But not this time. Also, often, I will schedule events in order to make money that day, through sales or some sort of payment. But, not this time. There was no chance for that. And, perhaps most noble, in the past, I would consider the “agenda” for such a day having any opportunity to speak with people or sing to people about Jesus and how great he is. But, not this time. We really just went to sing, and put a smile on people’s faces! 🙂

That’s so hard to fathom I think in our culture. There are so many advertising schemes that come across as offering something for nothing, but there’s always a catch. There is always some sort of agenda. That’s just the way it is. So, when we appeared to not represent anyone, or be selling anything… it certainly brought some strange looks. But, many people got past the anomaly and just enjoyed the music and the smiles! Awesome.

Bonus of the day? One of the store managers thought it was so cool what we did, that he gave us a Wal-Mart gift card! Dude. That was cool. It’s just great to be freed of expectations, or, perhaps insert the word “Agendas”, and to just enjoy the moment… and everything else is bonus!

It was a great time at Wal-Mart, and I think God was continuing to show me the freedom of living life without an agenda.