Worn Well Till Well Worn

So I have this pair of shoes. The kind that everybody hopefully has. They are special. These shoes have taken me to amazing places. They've carried me down the halls at work and through the doors to worship. They have stood in the rain and stuck to the floor of a grungy pub. I was thinking about my shoes today as I looked them over and realized that they are wearing out. They have a bit of a hole forming in the sole and I'm afraid I don't have much time left with them. Seems like a bit of a strange thing to feel sadness over although I would bet that more of you have been sad about shoes than care to admit it. Here's the strange thing though. When I think about these shoes, they mean something more to me than just footwear.

I've been thinking lately and the issue of my role has weighed pretty heavily on my mind. Where do I fit and what does that look like at work, at church, at home, serving others and in relationship with my wife, kids, family, and friends. Those shoes, in large part reflect who I am or at least who I want to be. I don't want to be the fancy pair of dress shoes, pulled out only for special occasions and removed as quickly as possible due to the phenomenal blisters forming. I don't want to be the casual loafer that's good for semi important events but can just as easily be out of place and useless if something messy comes up. These shoes can go anywhere and even if they might look out of place in the spotlight, they are invaluable to the guy doing work in the background no matter how fancy the occasion.

One other thing about these shoes. They are made from junk. Someone took old pieces of recycled paper, recycled wool, and recycled carpet padding, and pieced these shoes together as a way of reusing the stuff. The soles are literally made of old bald tires. I feel a bit of kinship in this too. I feel like I've been gradually pieced together using some stuff that if left on it's own wouldn't really be of much use and probably thrown away, but pieced together can become something loved and useful. That seems to be the way God works usually in fact. He takes something that is profoundly broken and knits together something remarkable. I'm somewhere in the middle of the production line right now but I can't wait to see what the finished product will look like.