The ugly brown shoes! 10/14/08

THE UGLY BROWN SHOES
Grade school is a learning experience. Everything from the 3 R’s to how to dress, manners, and how to respond instead of react. All were learned in the early grades. It is possible I learned to deceive before I went to school but I implemented what I learned in grade school. The phrase; "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive", haunts me to this day. Can you remember your first big deception or "lie"? I can and very vividly.
At the beginning of each school years all us little kids in grade school were given one new outfit to wear. Or at least new to us! This outfit included a new pair of shoes! For some reason us girls always had to wear ugly shoes that were sturdy and would last the school year. Mine were the "ugly brown shoes". When I was in the fifth grade my new shoes were "ugly brown with crape soles". Remember crape soles? I hated them! They were ugly! I was the only girl in the school that had to wear ugly brown shoes with crape soles.
Of course, those days, girls could only wear dresses or skirts. No long pants that could hide your shoes even a little bit. With dresses your shoes are very visible. Into the school year, where my confidence continued to dwindle because of the spectacle I made in these shoes, I had an epiphany! If I tore the crape around the sole it would make the shoes not serviceable or at least unwearable? So I began to tear at the crape and within a week it was all ragged and in some places just plain missing. I showed what was happening to my Mom and told her that the shoes were no good. I needed new ones. She said; "oh, they’re fine". My heart was broken!
Shortly after that I stepped into some water and stayed there long enough for the water to seep around and into the edges of the shoes and my feet got wet. I got new shoes! Brown ones but not as ugly. No crape soles!
Think about it? Do you remember a time when you planned a deception and even followed through with it?
In Revelations 12:9 it says that "Satan, is the deceiver of the whole world". We also know he is the prince of the power of the air and is known as the father of lies. When we lie and deceive we are Satan’s children. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11; "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways". It is important not to play Satan’s games!
Children lie and if not checked they will become adults who lie. I learned my lesson many years ago because I always felt bad about my ugly brown shoes. However, many times even in adulthood I have fallen into Satan’s trap. When we deceive we never can undo what we have done. Our Father is loving, kind and forgiving. But do not be deceived, God is not mocked. When we accept Christ as our Savior we are changed from our old ways into something new. Matthew 5:48 says; "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect". In Colossians 3:9-10 it says; "Do not lie to one another" because you are new in Christ.
Don’t be afraid to wear the ugly brown shoes - all things eventually wear out and if they don’t we can just throw them away. But the person you have become in Christ is far more important than anything you can own and wear. It is who you are not what you are that can stand the test of time. Do you remember wanting to wear lipstick? All the girls were wearing it except you! I would sneak my sister Janice’s lipstick and put it on just as I was leaving for school. I was in the 7th grade!. Mothers are sentinels placed in strategic positions to keep an eye on little girls. God saw it and it never got past my Mother ! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 1/30/08