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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: TRIP (10/18/18)
What would be your reaction if you found a lady on the icy pavement on a cold winter afternoon? You watched her slip and fall with her butt on the ground and her feet facing you, as you walked towards her. Though she was walking in front of you, she had slipped and made a clockwise180 degrees spin with her body and face turned towards you. Before you could say anything, you realise she has on beautifully beaded flipflops which made you speechless.

You would surely think that she must be confused or ignorant because her footwear was totally wrong for the season. You would know without a doubt that she slipped and fell because of her choice of footwear. I am sure you would help her up and try to explain to her why she should get a pair winter boot. But what if she started complaining to you about the ground and the icy nature of the pavement as the problem and not her footwear. What if all she did was blame the floor and not her flipflops. You would certainly start an endless debate trying to make her understand that though the ground was slippery the real problem was her flipflops.

But who could really blame her? She had a wrong outlook on the situation. She is so used to having the same shoes on all the time, she didn’t realise that they won't work in certain seasons. Just like most Christians who always stumble and fall in their walk with Christ because they always have on the wrong pair of “footwear” while blaming the floor the whole. To top it off, we pay no attention to the One who advises us because we are too quick to prove a point.

When we stumble and fall we tend to put the blame on the situation that caused us to fall even though we should be critically assessing our attitude towards the situation. To become a Christian is to decide to walk a different path to the desired destination. This path is not an easy one especially having to go through it in this world with all the chaos.

This means you can’t walk on the path with the same attitudes you had when you were not saved. This will lead to many times of stumbling and falling.

We must walk with different attitudes which are the “shoes” we have to put on as we walk this chosen path. This means that there is an appropriate approach to every situation defined by the word of God. So, then it's like having flipflops in the summer and winter boots in the winter. Its the only way to keep you safe and continuously on the road. The seasons are bound to change so there is always a need to be prepared.

You don’t walk through the season of lack with worry as before but rather you walk on that path with faith and patience. Those are the shoes you put on. In the season of temptation, you put on the shoes of prayer and self-control. In the season of abundance, you don’t put on the shoes of pride but humility. In the season of hurt, you put on the shoes of forgiveness and not anger and retaliation.

Shoes of peace in the season of war and conflict. Shoes of love and kindness in the season of bitterness. Shoes of patience in the season of anxiety. All these shoes are always laced with love, mercy and grace. These shoes keep you safe through the season because really it will pass, and you don’t want to nurse an injury because you fell and got hurt wearing the wrong shoes.

Blaming the situation which is the “ground” never solves the problem. Its always about getting the appropriate “shoes”. It is understandable if you need to change your wardrobe and get some new shoes. Don’t we all need to do that?
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Nancy Bucca
10/26/18
How true! It's so important to have on the right shoes, but so easy to blame the pavement and/or circumstances when things don't go the way we want. Great job with this.
Claudia Barrington
10/27/18
Years ago during a difficult season in my life, I had a dream that I left a lot of shoes behind in a closet. I always wondered what those shoes were all about. This is especially helpful to me. Good word.
Linda Lawrence 
10/28/18
I think by tweaking a short beginning, concentrating on the last half of this piece, cutting it to 300 words, you would have a devotional suitable for submitting. This is a good start for a beginner.