This shoe sits by the front front door this morning awaiting its calling. I put it there to remind me to bring it with me when I go to pick the girls up after school for a doctor appointment. In the meantime, Hallie, our oldest daughter is wearing two right shoes. (We have two pair of black Converse tennis shoes and she got the right shoe of each pair in her rush). If we hadn't been running late this morning, we'd have come back to the house to correct the error. Instead, she's probably longing for rescue. 

I've received several pertinent reminders lately of just how consistent and abundant our need is for rescue. I've mourned with someone who feels alone.  Another faces a big day and they're scared. There's one who is broken and has lost faith in the person they trusted the most.  Still, another is the person who broke trust and seeks a way out the chains that have been holding her so long. Others need answers to hard questions. 

This ratty shoe hardly looks to be a hero. For our aid, we'd much rather a glass slipper; a dazzling piece of "arrive at the desperate scene" footwear that serves as our instant ticket out of misery.  We put it on...and Poof!...All of the ugly people are gone from our lives. They're replaced by a prince and loyal subjects. No more being neglected, despised or locked up. With a glass slipper, the answer to our problems becomes as crystal clear as the shoe that's just been placed on our perfect-sized foot.  

We hope for our glass slipper We look to people or things to fill a void or gaping wound. We make them our salvation, mistakingly believing that which is fragile can bear us up. A glass slipper could be a friend, or that special someone, you trust to fill your loneliness. You may attempt to improve your appearance (through exercise or more effort fixing up) believing it's the answer to your insecurity.  We can even be guilty of praying regarding our trouble and then turning right around and looking for worldly rescue. 

Better is a shoe that's walked all the places. We need a shoe that can endure shaky,  fall out from under our feet, kind of ground. We need one that can support any weight we put on it. 

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.  Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 53:3

We need the shoes of one who's walked in ours. We can be hopeful for a loving, fulfilling relationship or an easy answer to our health scare. We can be grateful for that which we've been given. But all we have and hope for is naught if we're not aware of the one who goes before us and with us. 

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7

We've no need for teetering footwear. Peace that fills the voids and allows you to endure is waiting for you at the door. 
Stand firm then...with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:14a, 15

What glass slipper have you put your hope in?