The Shoe

                             The Shoe


  It's a stray shoe. It's not unusual for a two year old to be unreconciled to her shoe. This one was on top of the buffet. The other, somewhere. On the floor? Under a couch cushion? Under the seat of the car? In her bedroom? In the doghouse? It will turn up. My granddaughter doesn't need it, at least most of the time. She toodles around fine in bare feet. I suppose she might need it to walk on dirty public floors or hot sidewalks. But this shoe was for me this day, not Klaira.

   It is empty. The little, lithe, nimble feet are running elsewhere. I snapped the picture. It just grabbed me, so I snapped it. It kind of reminds me of a part of my heart for most of the year. It's a place where blue eyes, a long curl of hair, a crooked smile, and those galloping feet fill for a few days a year. The rest is memory and longing.
   There are many empty things besides little girls shoes in our lives. People face empty nests, empty desks, empty schedules, empty bank accounts, empty beds, empty hearts.  What was full, occupied, busy, enjoyed is alone, finished, idle, empty. Time, distance, school, jobs, dreams, fate, life and death bring people into our lives and out. The times vary. Some are in and out in rapid succession. Some are in and out in slow motion. Some are in, then out, never to be in again.
   It could be rather depressing. And it is for a few moments, but it doesn't last. I'll never see Klaira in these shoes again. By the time I see her again they will be too small. She is growing, moving on, maturing, living and loving. She will need new shoes, bigger shoes. That is right and how it should be. I can't help but think of all those other empty things in life and wonder if maybe they had to become empty because God had bigger dreams and places for hearts and lives growing in His grace to fill. So we feel the emptiness and grieve. We experience the emptiness and long for what was. But we see the empty shoes and also remember that it is God's promise to know His love and be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. We see the empty shoes and long for what can be and will be.
   Empty things He still fills--from shoes to hearts.

Cos