Monday, February 2, 2015

The right shoes

Wear shoes that are able to speed you on as you preach the Good News of peace. – Ephesians 6:15 (TLB)
     
     
I fell in love with hiking on the trails of Acadia National Park in Maine over a year ago. The maze of roots, rocks and boulders were challenging to this then-61-year-old, out-of-shape woman. And not having the proper footwear didn’t help my bad feet.
     
I’ve had problems with my feet since I was a child. One night excruciating foot pain kept me awake. The next morning my mother called the doctor, who diagnosed sprained ligaments in both feet and prescribed bed rest for a week and soaking my feet several times a day. He also recommended I wear shoes with more support—“ortho shoes” I called them and refused to even consider it. The kids at school made fun of me for far less.
     
But Mom, being Mom, prevailed, and we found a nice compromise—saddle shoes. They gave my feet the necessary support and actually looked cool. They were so comfortable, I bought new ones every year and wore saddle shoes all through high school.
     
Of course in my young adult years I had to wear shoes that made me look cool. Over the years,  though, I learned with the right kind of shoes—shoes that had the support my feet needed—I didn’t have any problems. Cheap shoes, flat shoes, all gave me pain. The more expensive shoes were worth every cent.
     
I didn’t have problems with my feet again until I developed heel spurs in my fifties. Once again footwear came to the rescue. The WalkFit inserts I ordered online were not only comfortable, but had me walking without pain within days. I wore them inside my shoes until I lost one. Then I graduated to just good shoes.
     
Then we went hiking, and sneakers just didn’t cut it. I didn’t want aching feet to prevent me from doing something I loved to do, so I bought hiking boots, a pair of merino wool hiking socks and another set of WalkFit inserts—best investment I made all year. I hiked and walked all last summer, and then hiked 17 miles of trails in the Great Smoky Mountains last fall—without pain.
     
The right shoes make all the difference.
     
We need “the right shoes” for what God has called us to do—take His Word to the world around us (John 14:27, Matthew 28:28, Acts 1:8).
     
What are the right shoes?
     
Peace. Peace with God, peace with yourself and peace with others.
     
You don’t find that kind of peace in stores or online. You find it only in God—in His Son, Jesus Christ, who said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). You find it when you fix your mind on Him (Isaiah 26:3). You find it when you pray and trust God for the answers and when you think the right thoughts (Philippians 4:6-9). You find it when you do all you can to be a peacemaker (Romans 12:18).
     
What will it be? pain? Or peace?
     
Having the right shoes makes all the difference.
     
       
Remind me each morning, O Lord, to put on the right shoes. Amen.



More tea: Read Ephesians 6:10–18

1 comment:

  1. Good word this morning - we need to make sure that our feet are "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."

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