I had to bring my Surface Pro 3 back to the store to be swapped out for a new one ( yes. Sigh. Again). I will be without it for a couple of days so am using my iPad which I love, but is slower and has less features. As long as I was at the mall, I decided I had to get nice shoes that didn't hurt my feet. My daughter is getting married at the end of February and all my nice shoes cause unbearable pain within minutes.
Anyone who has followed my blog for any length of time knows that due to foot issues, I can never find shoes that are pretty and don't hurt. Half the problem is I have narrow feet and few stores carry narrow width. I wandered into a store.
"What are you looking for?" the saleswoman asked me.
"An impossible dream," I said sadly.
"Tell me," she said, "I love challenges.
I was shocked to discover this store specializes in narrow shoes. She had oodles for me to try on and because they were narrow, none of them hurt! They really were pretty and didn't hurt! How could this be!
"This is like walking on clouds!" I cried.
She nodded happily.
"I have so many shoes," I said, "But most I never wear because they hurt my feet."
"You waste time and money on cheaper throwaways," she said, "It pays to spend more, but get the right shoe you will actually wear."
Since it was so comfortable to walk around in the pretty shoes, I chatted at length with the saleswoman as she brought me pair after pair to try on.
Her enthusiasm was infectious. I only needed one pair, but she wanted me to try on all kinds of shoes, just so I could see what a truly comfortable shoe properly fitted felt like. I was there over an hour, walking laps around the store.
"You love your job, don't you?" I said.
"Yes. But it is especially gratifying when someone who didn't know what a shoe could be puts one on."
As I lapped the store, all three sales associates had gathered around and were listening to my recounting of the rescue of a dying dog that sparked my writing career. I told them I needed comfortable classy shoes for my book signing events.
"They are a write off then!" they pointed out.
One thing led to another, and soon they were all going to buy my books, and one invited me to her book club to speak. I left feeling like I had made three new friends, and maybe enough sales to pay for the shoes!
Later, I thought about what the saleswoman had said. Her words could easily be applied to following God the way we were designed to do. We were created to be in synch with God, in communion, in fellowship. He had provided a perfect world. It was our choice to leave it through rebellion and sin.
The repercussions have been pain and struggle, like an ill-fitting shoe. We can walk, but not without trauma.
What a sigh of relief we feel when we finally turn from foolish, selfish, sinful ways to repentant submission to our Creator. It is like walking on clouds, which one day, will be our eternity.
I chose one pair, though frankly I wanted several. The saleswoman piled the boxes of the lovely shoes I'd turned down on the counter.
"I will hold these for you," she said, "In case you decide later you want shoes that don't hurt you. I can't hold them forever, so don't take too long to decide."
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Matthew 11:28-30
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Colossians 2:6
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
1 John 2:5-6
But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 15:7
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
