Do you ever give much thought to what shoes you’ll wear for the day? This is something that can mean almost nothing to some people, or a whole lot to others.
There are many famous quotes about shoes, because people care about shoes! My favorite quote that mentions shoes is from my favorite Dr. Seuss book, Oh the Places You’ll Go! “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
Marilyn Monroe once said, “Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.”
“If the shoe fits” is another famous quote about shoes, along with the joke that “Cinderella is proof that a good pair of shoes can change your life.”
If you are like my husband, you have under five pair of shoes and you happily rotate wearing those shoes until they fall apart. I however, have…well, much more than five pair, and do my best to wear as many as the season allows.
Casey tends to pick more expensive shoes, which last longer, and I will happily purchase a cheap pair and rotate it with other cheap pairs. It takes me a little more to spend a lot on a single pair of shoes because I find myself thinking how many cheap pair I could buy for the price of one expensive pair.
However, lately, my feet have begun to hurt, as I approach my 23-week of pregnancy, and that has caused me to think about the comfort of my shoes significantly more than I normally would.
I have even caught myself thinking about the shoes that people all over the world wear. I visited New York City over the weekend, and when I would normally stray from wearing tennis shoes with jeans, I happily slid on my tennis shoes because I knew I would be walking a lot more than usual.
Have you ever visited a large city where a lot of walking takes place and seen this as a trend? Women in business skirts with tennis shoes and most likely high heels in their bag for later. People are starting to care more about comfort rather than risking it all for fashion’s sake, or so I’ve observed.
If you are like me, do you also consider the day and what it may bring when selecting your footwear? If it’s raining, I consider sliding on my rain boots, which I often rule out because who wants to be wearing rain boots for the nine hours of the day that you are inside working? Thus, wet ballet flats it is for me most rainy days at the office.
I will indulge and wear high heels if I know my day requires minimum walking, and I will feel fabulous, yet choose my walking journeys wisely.
In the summer time, my most common shoe of choice is my Chacos. They have taken me to foreign countries and back, in all kinds of weather and terrain, all while providing great arch support, and usually wearing them outside means cool tan lines on my feet.
Some people don’t have the luxury of shoes which I acknowledge and wish so sincerely that I could give each person in the world a pair of shoes, because I am a wimp when my feet hurt. Even growing up in the country, where shoes can be optional, I still prefer shoes rather than no shoes.
Since I’ve been thinking about shoes so much, I began to think about how I prepare for my day, how I prepare for trips, how I shop for shoes and how I trust my shoes.
For an item of clothing that has come to mean so much to me, I couldn’t help but consider how, while shoes are vital to my physical comfort, and necessary in almost all indoor establishments, I should consider the Bible with even more importance.
Reading the Bible is also vital to my comfort, I trust His Word, I should prepare for trips and trials in His Word, I should meditate upon it.
I would never leave for a trip or head to work without a pair of shoes. Each morning, without fail, I put shoes on. Can I say the same for the Bible and how I dive into Scripture?
In 2018, I’ve challenged myself to read through the Bible. I would say that was my only true resolution. Here it is, March 19 and I have fallen behind on my plan via the Bible app on my phone. I haven’t given up, but I there have been days where I have failed to enter into His presence by reading Scripture.
Did I forget to wear shoes to work these days? Of course not. I am on my way to catching up, but when I think about how silly I would look at the office in my bare feet, I should also feel as silly going about my day without His Word as my daily guide.
I say all of this not to condemn or embarrass myself, I just say it out of transparency. I’m giving myself a bit of a pep-talk here, too!
Until I as a Christ-follower yearn after Scripture the way I do towards shoes, or other elements of my first-world life, my growth as a Christ follower will be non-existent, stagnant.
I have seen such progress in myself and how I view the importance of reading Scripture, and if you, like me, have struggled with reading Scripture, I encourage you to look at it from another point of view.
Look at the Bible as a series of literary works if you please. The Bible Project has a lot of fascinating content on this subject. It is mind-blowing, I suggest any Christian should check out the “How to read the Bible” series here.
Don’t look at it as a task, or a chore. Look at the Bible as a way to know your God more, and as something that you NEED desperately in your life daily. When you yearn for the Gospel as you would yearn for your feet to stop hurting, you’ll be amazed where your feet will take you and what disciples you can make along the way.