Get Me My Shoes

Get Me My Shoes

It was dark and cold in our little New England house. Mom had left just a few minutes earlier. She was walking to the local police station. All the shouting had stopped. The thumps of things being thrown. The sound of breaking glass. I was remember being very still and just wishing it would all stop. But then my dad was calling for us. And three little girls in their flannel night gowns peeked around the corner. "Girls!" my dad called, his voice thick from the alcohol he had drunk at the local bar. We crept slowly into the living room and tried to avoid the broken glass on the floor. "Girls get me my shoes, the police are coming and I need them." I remember going into the bedroom, past the big Catholic Bible perched on the dresser, and kneeling down to look under the bed for my dad's black shoes. Finding them, I brought them to the living room where my dad was solemnly explaining that the police were coming to a take him away. And then the policeman was at the door and he seemed like the hugest man I had ever seen. Dad went with him and the policeman said Mom was on her way back home. We waited quietly on the sofa and then mom was home. "Go back to bed girls", she said. And so we did and it was quiet. And it felt safe. And I was glad I had found Dad's shoes. In the snow he would need them. Who knew when he would return and shoes were important. Even a little six year old knew that they were.

I have thought about that night many times since I lived in that cold New England house. I will find myself searching for my own shoes under my own bed and somehow my mind wanders to that night and reaching for that pair of black shoes. I learned a few lessons. One was that broken people need help. And you can help them if you are brave. ( I was always terrified of the big Catholic Bible and having to go past it to get the shoes was a big task for a small child) Another lesson was that when you are getting help for someone else you need to be careful of how you proceed. (Broken glass on the floor is dangerous if you are not wearing your own shoes). And I learned that compassion can overcome fear. Compasion is powerful. Think about it. This is Pastor Susan Living the Everyday Prophetic Life.