Shoe Business

I've been putting my shoes on by myself for quite some time now. I thought that I was really starting to get pretty good at. Then something happened a few weeks ago that shocked me. I was standing at Men's Breakfast and had just finished saying the meal prayer when Bill Schmidt asked, "Did you have a rough night last night, Russ?"        The truth is that Susan and I had been over at a friend's house the night before enjoying a nice evening with some other couples. We had gotten home a little after midnight, and so I was kind of tired when I got up and raced out of the house in the morning. But, no, I wouldn't say that I had had a particularly rough night.           "Why do you ask?" I said to Bill.        "Because," he said, "your shoes don't match."      I looked down at my feet and couldn't believe my eyes! He was right, my shoes really didn't match! On one foot I was wearing one of my "nice" tennis shoes and on the other foot I had on a dirty, green mowing shoe. I was horrified. How could this happen? How could I show up at work wearing mismatched shoes? How could I miss something so obvious?! To my credit at least they were both tennis shoes and I had them on the correct feet... but still...        The only explanation was that I just wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. I was going through the motions of putting on my shoes, but thinking about something else. Worship can be like that sometimes, too... we go through the motions but we're not really paying attention. Even if we've been going to church our whole lives, we can get distracted thinking about other things and miss what God has to say to us that day. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a daydreamer from way back and I understand that sometimes the distractions ARE what God is saying to us... but usually... they're just distractions.        When we come together for worship, we come to interact with God and each in order to experience the presence of God in our lives through that service. But when we don't pay attention or fail to engage in the service, it can feel as ridiculous as a pair of mismatched shoes. We try hard to keep services fresh and meaningful, but the most important part of worship is what you bring to it as the worshipper. Even if we don't sing your favorite songs or read your favorite Bible passage... even if the preacher's jokes aren't very funny or the music is unfamiliar... God is still there, ready to speak to us, teach us, guide us, and comfort us. But are you paying attention?        That morning at Men's Breakfast was a wake-up call for me. It was a reminder that I need to slow down and pay more attention to what I'm doing instead of always just racing off to the next thing. God is pre-sent all around me in the people and events of my day, and I don't want to miss out because I wasn't paying attention.

Peace,

Pastor Russ burkelutheranweb@tds.net

Not for Publication