Your Shoes… Not Mine?

Have you ever wanted to be someone else?  Just for a minute, an hour, a day?  Step away from your life and walk in another person’s shoes, so to speak.  I want what they have…their life…their house…their job…their family.

When I was a little girl I used to pretend that I was everyone but myself.  My best friend would spend the night and we would pretend we were orphans.  We lived in an orphanage and shared a room.  Another time we would be famous singers and would go on tour.  I used to stand in front of the mirror with my furry hand warmer and pretend I was a very rich young girl… someone famous.  I loved The Box Car Children books and wanted to, again, be an orphan and live in a train car.  Why?  Well, at this point in my life… I am not quite sure.  Maybe it had something to do with being second to the youngest in a very large family and feeling lost – like I did not really have a place.  


Fast forward many years to the present.  As I search for more of my identity and passion in life, it’s easy to look to others and wish I had what they had.  I love shoes and maybe that is why the idea of “walking in someone elses shoes” sounds appealing!  If I had kids like them…if I were thin like her…if we lived in that neighborhood…if we were friends with them… 


I am a bit of a shoe snob and love a good pair.  I think I want to wear the higher heel shoes with the pointy toes.  I would be such a different person if I wore classy shoes like those.  In reality though, I’m not a fancy shoe lover.  I like the practical and comfortable kind.  Being the shoe girl that I am, I know that shoes can look really cute on the outside but when you put them on they might not fit right.  Or, they may fit right at first but when you begin to walk around in them you find that they are not comfortable nor practical at all.  It’s then when I find myself going back to my good old comfortable pair that have been worn down and fit my feet perfectly.  


I’m learning as I take this journey in life, that everyone has a story.  While people might look like a fancy pair of shoes on the outside, they also have that old comfortable pair they run to.  I can spend my time wishing I were someone else or had what others had, but where will that get me?  It will get me shoes that may look good but don’t fit.  I’m learning that I need to look in my own closet and make the best use out of the shoes that I own.  God created my shoes to fit me and no one else.  Mine may not be as cute or fancy as others, but they suit me well.  Maybe I need to polish them up or air them out a bit!  We all have a closet full of shoes that tell our story… our story, not someone elses.  I need to wear the shoes that God fitted for me and wear them well.  Makes me think of an old hymn… It Is Well With My Soul…(or is it sole?!)