“Mama always said there’s an awful lot you can tell about a person by their shoes. Where they’re going, where they’ve been. I’ve worn lots of shoes. I bet if I think about it real hard, I could remember my first pair of shoes. Mama said they’d take me anywhere. She said they was my magic shoes.” – Forrest Gump
To get the boys ready for school, one thing that we needed to get for both of them was new shoes. To make things easier on them, and on us, we found Sketchers that are really great. No string to tie. Only a velcro strap to pull tight and it kept the laces secure.
One day, the brand of shoes, the type of shoes and probably the color of shoes will matter to them a lot more than they do now. They did for me when I was in school. First it was canvas Nike hightops. Then if you were really awesome, it was leather Reebok hightops. (man did those ever smell up a room after a few weeks). Now that I’m a little older and have to pay for my own shoes, it’s still Nike or Reebok but now its the most comfortable shoe at the best price. No $150 Jordans for me.
Even my dad had his favorite type of shoe but they were not the style for me. I remember he had the “ankle boots” that zipped up the side. It had a big heel and the shoes looked HUGE. I can remember putting on his shoes and trying to walk in them when I was younger, without much success. After all, my dad had some big shoes for me to fill.
For the past 11 weeks, I have been blessed to be a dad. I am still trying to fill those zip up ankle boots and be a dad, like my dad was to me, and in these short few weeks, I have realized a few things about boys…
they are great, but they can push you to your limit…
they know the rules of the house, but often forget them….
they know right from wrong, but still do what they want to forgetting the consequences and what is lost or taken away….
they can make you so mad, but that hug and I love you in the morning wipes the slate clean…
I want to treat them like they are mature adults and give them everything, but they are only young boys….
“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” – Matt. 7:11
I have to ask myself, am I talking about the guys that we have taken in, or am I thinking about myself and my brother when we were younger. I’m sure that we pushed a few buttons in our days as well. I KNOW we knew right from wrong, truth from a lie, but yet we still did what we wanted to and tried everything to get out of being in trouble.
I have to think that this applies to life, not just the house that I grew up in or the house the boys are growing up in now. I have to know that we all, myself included, push God’s buttons, a LOT. I have to know that we know the rules to live by but yet we still forget the consequences and live our lives the way that we want to.
It scares me to think of what blessings in life that I have missed out on because God took something away from me because of a choice that I made.
I do know, regardless of what I have done, the choices that I have made, a simple hug and I love you, and asking God to forgive me, wipes the slate clean as well, just as it did with my mom and dad.
Proverbs 22:6 – “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Dear God,
I often wonder what it is like to walk in another person’s shoes. What it is like, to live their life and face their decisions and situations each day. Help me to be the parent that my mom is knowing that I can go to her in any situation. Help me to be the dad to our boys, like my dad was for me. Help me to reflect You in the lives of the boys and to fill the big shoes that I have to fill, regardless of if they are those ankle boots that zip up….
Keith
KWHITE75 