New Boots

New Boots

I remember the first pair of “real” work boots I ever received as a child. I begged for them! I had to have them if I was going to be considered a man like my dad or my brothers. My mother carried me to the store and I walked out with the first pair I tried on, mostly because I didn’t want to give her a chance to change her mind!

The next day I couldn’t wait to go out and wear my boots everywhere! I kicked roots and rocks, now invincible with steel toe inserts. I rode my bicycle to nearby friends making sure they noticed I was clad in some new leather footwear. I played, ran and jumped for half the morning before I began to notice how badly my new boots were rubbing my ankles. A few hours later, there were blisters on my calves, ankles, and feet; these boots had to go!

By the next day I was back in my regular sneakers, a little disappointed that I wasn’t tough enough to wear boots. It must have taken six months worth of wearing the boots, one day at a time, in order for them to finally be broken in enough to be comfortable to wear. I certainly wore those boots longer than I should have, with cramped toes, trying to avoid the process of breaking in a new pair of work boots.

Everyone likes new boots. Nobody likes paying the bill for them; at the register or on your feet! We often examine ourselves, find areas to improve, but ultimately do nothing as the price to achieve these improvements might bring pain. Such is the world we live: “Nothing worth having comes easy”- that goes for comfortable boots or better lives!

We often envy the rich reaping of a harvest, with little regard to the dedicated efforts during the tilling, sowing, weeding, and pruning that cultivated that harvest. Let us do the uncomfortable things to day so we can rest tomorrow.

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

Galatians 6:7-8 NKJV

I love you,

Jonathan