Dirty Shoes

We live in a brand new house with brand new carpeting. And when we moved into this house we were very careful to ask people to remove their shoes so that our carpet would stay nice. And everyone does this without question. Our kids are so trained to do this that the minute they step foot in someone else's house they stop and pull off their shoes (without any regard to anyone who might be coming in behind them!).

But for some reason my husband, Ken, never takes off his own shoes when entering the house. He is constantly walking around with shoes on. And I consistently ask him to remove his shoes and he says, "They aren't dirty."

Now unless I am mistaken - we are all walking around this planet in the same dirt. And I wonder how his shoes are less dirty than mine when we are walking in the same places. When confronted on this issue - he has no defense except to say that his shoes are not dirty.

This used to infuriate me to no end (because let's face it, who cleans the carpet?).

But then I realized that I am the same way.

Isn't there a spiritual parellel hiding in there somewhere?

I think often times I look around at other people's lives and judge their decisions and choices and lifestyles as more "dirty" than my own. Somehow I must have more wisdom, maturity or holiness than they do. Even though we are all walking around sinners on this same earth. While I am generally not viewed as a prideful person, I think we all have oodles of pride hiding down in the depths of our soul that tell us that we are so much "cleaner" than others. And for me I tend to judge other Christians much more harshly than I do anyone else.

This must bother God just as much as the whole shoe thing bothers me.

Because the truth is we are all dirty. We all mess up on a daily basis - some do it more visibly than others. But it is really not my job to worry about that. My job is to follow God and make choices that honor Him. And work on cleaning up my own messes.

I don't think my husband will ever take his shoes off when entering the house and I will just have to learn to deal with that. But I think I will try to stop noticing so much. And give some grace. Because that is how I can clean myself up a little bit...and that is who I should be worrying about anyway.