The Other Shoe

Do you ever wonder about the one shoe lying on the highway?  For years I’ve thought about the possibility of a coffee table book of photographs of that single shoe in the middle of the expressway, the sneaker on the side of the road, the Mary Jane in the gutter.  A part of that book would be stories to explain how someone loses one shoe out of a moving car, and how long it was before the owner discovered it was missing, and what the wearer did with the one remaining shoe.

Usually when we think about ‘the other shoe’ it is in the context of waiting for it to drop.  We’ve all had those strings of events in our lives where we sense the bad luck is not over and we wait for the next awful thing to happen.  Sometimes we even get jaded and shrug off the flat tire, the unexpected bill, the bad cold with a ‘of course, it was bound to happen’ and ‘poor me’ attitude.  You probably know someone who doesn’t truly enjoy a good thing because they believe that just around the corner is ‘the other shoe’ which will bring calamity, despair, and trouble, the guaranteed partner of a joy.

Yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent, a liturgical and personal time of waiting.  Most spiritual journeys and faith traditions have times of waiting and collectively we are currently waiting for more than a babe in a manger.  We long for and anticipate the peace that was proclaimed, the good-will-to-all about which we seasonally sing, the star to direct those seeking reconciliation.  What can we do – together and individually – during this time of waiting to ensure that when that other shoe does drop we can and do welcome it with grace?

Whatever we are waiting for – peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance – it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.
                …Sarah Ban Breathnach

Blessed Advent!
Marilyn