New Shoes

New Shoes

How can you foretell a person’s forever?

Not in tea-leaves, but laces and buckles and leather.

The shoes on our feet reflect the street,

Not just our cred but the path we tread.

You wouldn’t wear your dancing shoes

To mow the lawn or change a fuse.

And football boots would never do,

For garden parties or cleaning the loo.

The journeys we take require consideration;

Destination and footwear demand calibration.

Shoe-choosing is a momentous affair;

Your direction is set by the shoes that you wear.

And shoe-change exacts when your style is stamped on;

You can’t just kick them off and imagine them gone.

The problem with all this is, of course…

That the shoes we wear first are not ours by choice.

Our tiny toddling feet are measured with precision,

Then squashed into the shoe-mould of another person’s vision.

We have our picture taken for the scrapbook back at home,

Like a legal affidavit or commandment set in stone.

At first the fit recedes beneath our joy at starting rite,

Then little toes begin to pinch and straps feel far too tight.

Our feet have dreams of firemen’s boots, or movie-star high heels,

But we must walk our given path no matter how we feel.

There’s no point coveting others’ shoes, or the paths where they’ve been put.

We’ve a lifetime to endure it, so best learn to love your rut.

This is how it feels sometimes; the future bleak and hope all lost

But there’s one who, for the sake of shoes, was prepared to pay the cost.

A man walked forth in sandals, telling those he met to follow,

But his path led up a rocky hill to a place of pain and sorrow.

It was there his journey seemed to end, and everything went black.,

But soon he rose and conquered death, beating a brand new track.

And the track provides access for everyone, to shoes of all colours and styles.

It traverses the places you’ve dreamed of, stretching for infinite miles.

There are rocks on the path in places, and plenty of undulations,

But he’ll walk beside and be your guide, on your journey of liberation.

So if your shoes give you calluses, and your heels are rubbed and sore.

No appeal in the journey’s ending; no fork in the road to explore.

Then follow the man who wore sandals and nails, who will lead you to where you belong,

With shoes of redemption you’ll sing as you walk, beloved, as your journey song.

Jo Child

This poem isn’t really about shoes.

For me it’s about sometimes feeling that other people’s expectations of us, our past mistakes and our lack of self-esteem are things which hold us back in life. They can make us feel like we’re wearing entirely the wrong shoes to go where we’d like to go. We want to go dancing in beautiful high heels but we are wearing wellies. So we feel stuck.

However, this poem is also about hope. Even when we feel like we are wearing completely the wrong shoes to go where we’d like to go, because other people’s expectations are driving us, or we’ve made stupid mistakes and mucked things up, God  can give us new shoes. He gives us second chances and helps us to start again on a more positive path. 

If you feel like you are wearing the wrong shoes, for whatever reason, you could say this prayer:

Dear God,

You created me for an awesome purpose. I don’t have to be what other people expect me to be. And my mistakes don’t have to hold me back. I can fulfil my destiny because you are for me and not against me. You forgive my mistakes and make me new. Thank you God. Help me to walk in ‘new shoes’ for a new purpose, with confidence and trust,

Amen