Take Off My Shoes

My mom loved shoes. When my brother and sister cleaned out her house when it sold, they discovered that Mom had hundreds of pairs of shoes tucked away in every closet in the house. She had every kind of shoe you can imagine ... from old, pointed-toe dress shoes to athletic shoes in every style known to mankind to house slippers in a wide array of colors to work shoes to sandals ... literally every kind and color of shoe you can think of, Mom had them. I didn't inherit Mom's love for shoes ... I've never cared much about shoes at all. As long as they fit and didn't have holes in them, that was all that mattered to me. Well, until a couple of years ago.

One of the side effects I have from years of having undiagnosed diabetes is that my feet hurt and tingle from neuropathy ... a lot ... so now I pay a great deal more attention to the shoes that I place on my feet. I probably bought 10 different pairs of athletic shoes before a shoe salesman told me I needed to purchase trail shoes to wear for my nightly walks. I have several pairs of dress shoes ... only because sometimes I am forced to wear them for certain occasions. That was a quest in and of itself ... finding dress shoes that didn't cause my feet to ache and throb to the point that I could barely stand to walk. I don't like that I have to think so much about shoes now, and I miss the days when I could just wear any old pair and be just fine. But every once in a while, I see a glimmer of Mom in me as I discover a pair of shoes that brings pure delight to my soul. Such was the case a week or so ago when I decided that I needed a pair of old-fashioned Converse tennis shoes.

I had a 30% coupon combined with some Kohl's cash (translated, that means I spent a significant amount of money at Kohl's the weekend before on clothes and received Kohl's cash for every $50 I spent), so I opted to go shoe shopping. I was a bit overwhelmed when I quickly discovered upon my arrival to the shoe department that Converse tennis shoes now come in a vast array of colors and styles. I spent over an hour trying on shoes ... an hour, friends, which is a long time for me to shop for anything. I finally narrowed my choice down to two pair of Converse ... one the traditional black and white, and one a light gray with frayed edges and pastel colors as accents. I ultimately decided it was an impossible choice between the two, so I bought them both. And I absolutely love, love, love, love, love those shoes ... they are unbelievably comfortable, and they are quite stylish as well. The problem now is that I don't want to wear any other kind of shoes ... I want to wear my Converse tennies all the time.

This morning as I drove to work, I was tapping my foot (in my Converse shoes, of course) to a song that came on during my iPod shuffle, when the words gave me pause to think about my strong connection to my newly purchased shoes. It's by Philips Craig & Dean, and it's titled "Spirit of God." The following lines struck me, completely struck me, as I headed down the highway. 

"Take off your shoes and stand in awe
Bow our hearts to the mighty God
He is near, the spirit of God is here."

So here's the thing ... I really, really, really love my Converse shoes, and I don't want to take them off. But there are times when I have to remove them, when it's not appropriate for me to have them on. As I walked into my office, my brain was pulsing with the lesson, with the truth that God wanted me to absorb today. It was almost as if I could hear Him speaking the words from Exodus 3 directly to me, cautioning me to pay attention to where I am standing. And all day, I've been wondering if I don't pay attention to Him ... if I don't see Him ... if I don't hear Him ... if I don't honor Him ... if I don't trust Him because I'm standing in a place where I don't want to take off my shoes, a place where I don't want to stand on holy ground, a place where I don't want to bow my heart, a place where I don't want to feel His spirit. My prayer tonight? That God would lead me to holy ground and that I would take off my shoes and stand in His presence.

“'Do not come any closer,' God said. 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.' Then He said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.'" Exodus 3:5-6