Check Your Shoes!

Monday to Friday, the number 4100 yellow school bus stops at the end of our drive to pick up our two eldest children, Jake and Ben. The deal is that the kids are supposed to be waiting at the bus stop for the bus to arrive, but I’m sorry to say that it’s often not the case. By the skin of their teeth, with lunch boxes and water bottles being thrown after them, they usually scamper up the steps of the bus pleading apologies and vague promises to try harder! Mornings are a little hectic in the Taylor household!

All this to say, that the other morning as the usual rush out of the door was happening, I noticed that my middle son, Ben, was escaping out of the door wearing a pair of trainers that were falling to pieces. This pair, with straps broken and seams swelling, had been replaced with a lovely new pair possibly 2 months earlier. When Ben arrived home that evening I asked him about it. He explained that he had been wearing the old pair (with velcro straps), because the new pair (with laces) were just so much harder work to put on and keep fastened, and that the old pair were easier for scoring goals!

Ben was doing in a practical sense what we’re probably all guilty of doing in a spiritual sense. For all of us, the old pairs of shoes in our closet will be different, but I guarantee we all have them. They're the ugly pair and worn out pair that sadly fits so well with our flesh!

Maybe they’re the familiar shoes of un-forgiveness and bitterness that you slip on without even thinking. Or how about that old comfy pair of anxiety and worry that you lived in for so long, and are molded to the shape of your heart? Fact is, that the new pair we all asked for and desired, takes time to wear-in and get used to. It takes practice and sometimes we just don't have the time or make the effort.

Make the time today to ask the Lord to show you the patterns in your life that you slip into subconsciously that are not of Him. Ask Him not only to replace your old pair of shoes with a new pair, but also to give you the effort and tenacity to remember to take them out of your closet and put them on!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I recognise my need of You. Led by my flesh, I slip so quickly into old ways, beliefs and patterns. Please Lord will You show me how to discard these old familiar shoes and to start to walk in the new, beautiful shoes You have for me to wear. In Jesus’ name. Amen.