Favorite Pair of Shoes

These are my old shoes.  

I have been wearing these shoes nearly every day for the past 2 1/2 years.

They have protected and supported my feet while i've shopped, while i've exercised, while i've hiked through the woods, while i've shoveled chicken poop, while i've butchered chickens, and while i've done everything in between.

Even when holes were worn in the toes, and the seams began to burst, i continued to wear them.  When the shoelaces broke, i just tied them differently, and i continued to wear them.  When the shoelaces broke again, i stopped tying them, but i continued to wear them.

At some point, they became so old-looking that i relegated them to farm work only, but they continued to be the shoes i put on in the morning, and they carried me through all of my daily duties.

My favorite pair of shoes.

This week, they finally wore to the point that their usability came into question.  It seems that even these shoes can be worn out.  The pressure finally became too much.

So today, i retire, my faithful, comfortable, hard-working, beautiful, favorite shoes.  I will finally let them rest.

I hope that i am like these shoes to the Father.  I hope that at the end of my life, a faithful, well-constructed life, whose every energy was well-used and thoroughly depleted, so that not one stitch of usefulness was gone to waste --  is what will be laid to rest.  A heart whose availability was so completely at the Father's beckon call, that He could depend on her first thing in the morning, and all through the day.  I pray that i learn to let down my guard so that i'm so full of holes that you can see Jesus in me.

I'd really like to be God's favorite pair of shoes.