Untied shoelaces can make us trip.
I work in an elementary school. My desk sits right in front of our clinic. As you might imagine, I see and hear lots of interesting and sometimes amusing, stories. One day last week, a little boy came into the clinic for some ice. He had tripped and banged his knee.
As the nurse was talking to him and getting his ice, she told him he needed to tie his shoelaces. He immediately informed her a little defiantly, that his untied shoestrings had nothing to do with him falling, that he had tripped over something completely different.
She calmly told him to tie his laces anyway, because she didn’t want him to return to the clinic with another injury. He tied them, although he wasn’t very happy about it.
After he left, we all had a little chuckle. I suppose just about everyone who works in an elementary school, reminds children on a regular basis, to tie their shoelaces. I know I do and I often just tie them myself.
But, I thought about that little boy and his shoelaces long after he left the clinic. I thought about how he knew they were a tripping hazard, which was why he was defensive. Why didn’t he just tie them? Those of us who are way past elementary school are aware of the tripping dangers of wayward shoelaces. I mean, you rarely see an adult walking around with untied laces.
Most of us can likely remember being told by adults when we were children, to tie our laces. Most of us probably thought those adults were just trying to aggravate us. We couldn’t see the wisdom that those adults had acquired.
But, while us grownups proudly walk around with our shoelaces tied, what other things do we do to trip ourselves up? We sometimes drive too fast and eat or drink too much. We can stay up too late. Doing those things can endanger our physical health, kind of like those untied shoelaces.
What about our spiritual health? If we really want to go to church on Sunday, staying out late on Saturday is probably not a good idea. If we want to read the Bible, opening it up while we’re watching a football game or the latest episode of our favorite television show is also probably not a good idea. There are certain types of media we can watch, or listen to or even participate in, that can interfere with our peace and hurt our souls. What about activities like gossip?
Unfortunately, the older we get the more rampant the tripping hazards can become, but just like those adults who reminded us to tie our shoes, if we pray and listen, we have the Holy Spirit who can remind us about the spiritual dangers we might need to avoid and we also have the support of our faith friends. It takes a village!
A little boy with untied shoelaces reminded me to be vigilant about spiritual safety. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂