Being Who We Are

Apparently these shoes
 were really despised left outside DSW.

The other day my daughter was heading to volleyball and couldn't find her shoes.  Being that we now wear the same size I told her to just wear mine.   Later that night after picking her up, I noticed the shoes in the living room, laces tied super tight and obviously just slipped off that way. I asked my daughter if those were the shoes she wore to practice, which I got a "yeeeesss" which I started laughing.  She had gone through volleyball practice wearing my husband's size 11 shoes that look very similar to my ladies size 8 shoes! At that point I was laughing hysterically imagining her tall skinny body with these giant boat like tennis shoes on her feet flopping from place to place.  Her coach mentioned later that she noticed a little more laboring to the ball then normal.  When asking if the other girls said anything.. she said "well they were just looking at them and said "oh wow did you get new shoes?" in which I started laughing more. 

The more I thought about it, it was such a good word picture to me about how we often try to fit into other people's "shoes" and it doesn't usually work.  We might be able to still function but usually it isn't natural feeling and most the time won't last long.  However, sometimes it is a good lesson to mentally step into someone's shoes to get a taste of what life for them is like.  We often find we are thankful where God has us and who He made us to be when we see how ineffective we are, trying to live out someone else's day especially if we want so badly to be them.

In high school I thought wanted blond hair so I "highlighted" it with an at home kit.  After 20 minutes of anticipation of finally being the blond I always wanted to be, I rinsed the mix off and realized my hair had turned bright orange! It was in that day Cindy Lauper was wearing the same bright orange color, but she was considered "punk" and I really wasn't going after that look!  There was no hope other than go to corrective treatment at the beauty school in which they fixed the problem by covering over the orange with brown which only made an awkward mahogany purple hue evolve.  I remember standing in the sunlight just ever so perfect and catching my reflection in a mirror only to notice my hair looked purply/blue and fried.  (Strangely enough my new boyfriend at the time became very distant and eventually never heard from him)  I learned at that time that God knew what he was doing when he gave me brown hair, it goes much better with my skin tone than blonde would or even mahogany purple anyway.  I wish as humans we weren't so prone to want something we don't have or want the gifts someone else has or try so desperately to be like someone else.  God created all of us uniquely and trying to change or challenge His creation and design just seems wrong.  So enjoy your own shoes and reflect His glory in them!