When it comes to shoes, I'm sure some of you will remember hearing about Imelda Marcos, wife of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. She reportedly owned more than 3,000 pairs of shoes (size 8 1⁄2), which were discovered by the opposition forces after her husband's regime was overthrown in 1986. She was hugely criticized worldwide for her extravagances while the country went deeper into debt. In 1987 she famously defended herself by stating, "I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes. I had one thousand and sixty. Most were worn only once or not at all." As though that justified anything. I have to admit that with 5 people (now 4) living in my home, it has sometimes seemed like Imedla Marcos all over again. Please allow me to explain.
The Baldridge family enters our house via the garage and a small utility room entry way. Because there is a "No Shoes On In The House Rule," shoes get taken off at the door (usually). That in itself is not a problem and I'm sure you can proably guess where I am going already. The problem occurs when the shoes are left by the door and never put on a shelf or taken to the owner's bedroom for storage. Becuase we all wear different shoes for different occassions, a new pair is often worn the next time we go out. It is only a matter of time before the entry way has amassed a mountain of shoes that have to be stepped over before coming in or leaving the house. Now my children would proabably debate this, but from all appearances, they were and continue to be the flagrant offenders. And no matter how often we ask them to not allow their shoes to pile up, nothing seems to change. I even threatened to start throwing shoes away if anyone allowed more than 5 pairs to accumulate, but it was more wind than sail.
After much frustaration with these "internal affairs" the Lord helped me one day to put this frustration into perspective. I arrived home and after coming in and stumbling over a rather large shoe pile, I was about ready to go balistic (sounds worse than it actually was), when the Lord spoke to me gently, yet firmly and asked, "You do realize these shoes represent the lives of your children. Would you rather have the shoes or the lives?" My heart was smitten and I reasured Him I could put up with the shoes. I thanked Him again for each of my children and since then my blood pressure concerning the shoes has been a lot more under control.
We are told in God's Word that "Love is patient..." God often nudges and promps us to change habits that will help us draw closer to Him. Maybe there are 'shoe piles" in your life that the Lord would love for you to clean up. He loves you either way, but would be pleased if you would make the effort to do something about what is there. Why not start today?
Drew,
Jenny has so many shoes, we used to call her Imelda! :)
Amy
Posted by: Amy | August 25, 2006 at 10:26 AM