Whose shoes are you trying to fill?
I confess, I have a thing for shoes.
It may stem from the whole Cinderella story, you know- trying on the spectacular glass slipper and discovering it fits to perfection and riding off into the sunset with Prince Charming. A shoe can make you feel THAT good! Some of you will understand me. Some of you think I’m crazy, but that’s okay.
I especially love purchasing a gorgeous pair of shoes for a bargain price. You know, the stunningly beautiful, great quality pair you pick up in the store, find the price tag and set them back down again, saying, “I’ll come back when they’re on sale.”
Well let me tell you about my mellow yellow moment back in the summer. We were having a mini-break in Vancouver, and to pacify me before a soccer match, the men folk allowed a stint of shopping downtown. Holt Renfrew is one of those fabulous yet horrendously expensive stores where I just like to covet look. My wanderings found us miraculously in the shoe department, where my husband and I gasped and sighed at shoes ON SALE anywhere from $500 to $3000.
I remarked, “Good grief, if I was going to shell out half that amount of money, they would have to look absolutely amazing!”
“Like these?” he replied, holding up a bright pink pair of heels and a yellow patent wedge.
“In my dreams…” I sighed again, as I saw the bargain price of the pink ones reduced to a mere $500!! But my face lit up instantly when we discovered the yellow wedges were a fraction of the price- they were virtually giving them away (sort of).
“Go ahead, try it on,” said my Prince Charming.
I slipped my foot inside the sling back patent wedge, and it slid into place like butter. Perfect. My Cinderella moment. I looked at my prince, and he said, “They’re yours.”
He was an even happier prince when they reduced them even further at the cash register!
I sometimes wonder whose shoes I’m trying to fill in life. Am I desperately trying to be a perfect version of who I THINK I should be? Am I like Cinderella’s awkward stepsisters, attempting to squish my foot into a shoe where it really doesn’t belong and I won’t be effective no matter how much I squish? Or am I content to wear the comfy, fluffy slippers where I’m not forced out of my comfort zone?
1 Corinthians 12:27 (The Message)
“You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything.”
As Christians, we all have our roles, our parts of the body- that is the church. Sometimes as women we need to plough through in work boots, sometimes we’re required to tread carefully in our Cinderella slippers, sometimes it’s okay to wear our favorite wedges, and sometimes we can be real in our fluffy slippers.
No matter what’s on your feet, you are a treasured child of the King. Choose your shoes wisely and step out in fearless faith!
