How Many Shoes Can Actually Drop? Asking for a Friend…

PSA: My closet is very small – this is a FACT. Now, you could probably find a person, say, MY HUSBAND, who has his own OPINION about this, which is,

“You don’t have a small closet, you have too many clothes and way too many shoes.”

But you know what? I just look at him with adoring eyes and think, “Silly man! Do you not realize that these opinions are just falling on deaf ears,” and keep right on buying shoes. Occasionally.

And, OK, I have lots of shoes, I admit it openly. I just love shoes! With me and clothes, more often than not, I’m looking for something specific that I need – more shorts because all my old ones are too big, I have a thing that I need a dress for, etc. Buying shoes, however, for me, is way different. It’s more like

“Oooo, I like, I buy,” not knowing what I’ll wear them with, are they practical enough, sporty enough, dressy enough, who cares? I like, I buy.

In my closet there are these shelves when you look into it and this is where I keep all my shoes. And, yes, perhaps that would be plenty of room for someone else’s shoes, but, alas, not for my shoe collection. This leads to lots of shoe dropping in my closet – any time I’m digging for a certain pair of shoes, digging for, well, you know, ANYTHING – dude, it’s a closet, or even sometimes when I walk by the closet, a shoe drops. I really need a sign on the wall next to the closet, saying,

“Helmet recommended”

There have been many times when shoes have dropped on me – sometimes just one shoe, sometimes just a pair, and sometimes, it’s like those falling rock situations you’ve seen or heard about in Colorado. During a falling shoe situation, I just cover my head and wait until all the shoes have fallen, then when I don’t hear or feel them anymore, I think,

“Is that it? Is that the last shoe that will drop? Or will there be more shoes coming?”

So, in all honesty, my life for the past year-and-a-half has been like my closet and all these shoes are like the trouble we’ve been through – you know that “trials of all kinds” part that our sweet Jesus warned us about. And, look y’all it’s been hard. There have been health issues, deaths, broken relationships, mental health issues, elderly parents, work junk with my hubby, gosh! You name it, and I guarantee you, we’ve dealt with it. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and, unfortunately, I ask the Lord,

“So how about today, God? When is the next shoe gonna drop? Can it be an easy one? Please be gentle!”

Now, look, I know I sound pathetic, but just I’m trying to be real. I mean, it’s so bad and so much that Job and I could start a support group, OK? But instead of talking about Job – don’t stop reading - I’ve decided to use Romans 8:18 – one of good old Paul’s letters – as my text for this post:

Romans 8:18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.

First of all, I’m really glad Paul used the word “suffering” here. Because let me tell you, and I’m sure you could add your list, there’s been some real suffering going on up in here! Some hard, hard stuff. If you are reading this and don’t really feel like you’ve suffered, all I can say is:

Sweetie, it’s coming.

Because of the Garden of Eden fiasco, our sweet Jesus promises us we will all suffer. I like to call this “the promise no one wants to talk about.” We’re gonna suffer here on earth, friends. So I knew that, but I’m telling you the landslide of rocks that have hit me on the head lately and so frequently have been excruciatingly difficult. Big words for big suffering.

But in this verse from Romans, Paul makes us another promise; he promises us that compared to the glory we’ll receive later, our suffering is nothing. I say,

“Bring it, Jesus! Let’s have it!”

So what is this “glory?” Here are my thoughs:

1. A heavenly or glorified body: Paul tells us in Philippians 3:20-21 and in I Corinthians 15:35-57 we get brand new bodies, Baby! A heavenly body! I’ve already ordered mine: tall, reasonably thin, thick curly hair, a pancreas that works, joints that don’t hurt, a colon free of tumors, and a partridge in a pear tree! Look, I don’t know for sure what these new bodies will be like, but they will be the bodies God always planned and always wanted us to have. Yes, I’ll take it, Father, thanks.

2. A new earth: Now, in Romans again, Paul talks, even if kind of confusingly, about the new earth, but he uses lots of personification (giving human, living traits to non-living things), so it’s a little fuzzy. But it doesn’t take much time to look around and see that this earth and all that’s on it isn’t doing so well. This couldn’t have been His original plan, right? So, if God’s gonna give us a new earth, I have dibs on the mountains!

I don’t know what else this glory could be; maybe Starbucks will be free in heaven; maybe we get to buy a whole outfit and 2 pairs of shoes every day in heaven, maybe that’s part of the glory. I know for sure the whole “no sickness, no sorrow, no tears, and no death” are biggies for me.

But you know what I think part of this glory will be? Getting to hang out with Jesus; just being able to hug him, touch his arm while I’m talking to Him; to look into His eyes, hear Him laugh, see His smile. There have been so many times, lots of them this past eighteen months, when I have cried out,

“Jesus, I just need you here, in the flesh. I just need a hug, I need you to hold me, I need you to hold my hand. I can’t do this without you.”

And in those times, He has been so gracious to speak to me, comfort me; I believe He’s laughed and cried with me. But I want more time with Him. I want to take walks with Him, I want to make Him laugh, and I want to hold His face in my hands, and say,

“Thanks. No, really, thanks so very much for giving your life for me. Thanks for never giving up on me. Thank you for speaking life into me when I thought I had none left. Thanks for all of it, Jesus. I love you so much.”

So, yeah maybe there will be pearly gates and golden streets in heaven, maybe that will be part of the glory, but for me, the real treasure will be my Jesus.

Yeah, life has been hard, my head hurts from all these shoes dropping on it, from all these many problems we’ve had to deal with, but from now on, when a shoe drops – a real one or a new problem comes – I’m gonna remind myself,

“Meh, just deal with it. It may mean more time with Jesus.” And that makes it all worth it for me.