I bought these hiking style boots forever ago. Having multiple children, of both genders, that are in multiple sizes, has taught me a lot. One of the things I’ve learned is to never leave a store without first checking the shoe department for clearance. Really!
Our kiddos are each 4-5 years apart and in the order of girl, boy, girl. So holding on to our girl items for 10 years isn’t always reasonable. That and shoes are just something I feel like should be bought new, for good arch and back support. The problem is they’re expensive! If each child wears just 4 pairs of shoes a year (snow boots, tennis shoes, play shoes, & church shoes) and we pay $25 for each pair, which is reasonable, we’re still forking over about $300 on shoes alone. And let me tell you, each of my children go through way more than just 4 pairs of shoes a year, especially when they’re changing sizes and wearing them all the way out (like toes poking through the summer play shoes, kind of worn out).
I only buy what I would consider practical shoes, and try to always pay less than $10/pair. If I can find them for $6 or less, I stock up in the next 2-4 sizes. I can often get 4 or 5 pairs of shoes for what I would have paid for only one pair. This particular pair I paid $5.64! I know this because I left the tags on them when I stored them a year or more ago. What a deal, right?!
I store them in the basement in a plastic tote up high. I don’t mean to keep them from the kids, it’s just not a tote we get into often, so I don’t mind it not being as accessible. My kids feel like this is a special surprise tote, because they never know what shoes they’ll get next!
Well about a month ago I pulled out this pair, because I knew it was the right size for the boy. His other shoes weren’t worn out, it was just a bonus pair.
He was over the moon excited! Not because he got a new pair of shoes, but because of the style of shoes. They’re different than the typical tennis shoe, and a new style he hasn’t had before.
He yelled out, “I look like Grandpa Phil!”
Grandpa Phil is my dad, and The Ball Player really looks up to him. He’s rugged. He loves hunting, and motorcycles. All things the Ball Player loves too.
I reminded him that even though the boots are very cool, and they do look like grandpa’s boots, he belongs to God. We aren’t to get caught up in materialistic things like matching footwear, but to set our eyes on Christ.
I can’t help but think that if a pair of shoes can have such an impact, what else can we be impacted by? Words, feelings, what we see, what others do, what we do, so many things.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says:
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