No White Shoes Before Easter!!
I recently got blue highlights in my hair – yes true blue highlights. At 53 I have naturally silver hair so you can imagine everyone’s surprise (well except those that truly know me) at the bright blue streaks in my hair. I’ve always thought of hair as an accessory – it’s meant to be changed. Seemed like a natural thing to do. Kind of like the tattoo on my foot. It was a birthday gift from my daughters a couple of years ago, and I love it. I was reflecting on those two things the other afternoon and thinking how my mother, if she were alive, would react. I can honestly tell you she would absolutely love both of those things and probably would have joined me. She was like that – loved new experiences.
However, there is one thing that she adamantly would have berated me about…. Wearing white shoes before Easter or after Labor Day. If I so much as pulled them out of my closet prior to Easter, she would spin in her grave. Funny thing, as weird and different as I typically am, I simply cannot put those white shoes on. That is the one thing I adhere to without question – it is ingrained in me. I don’t have to think about it. I don’t wrestle with whether it’s right or wrong. I simply don’t do it.
Now if only we could get the things that truly matter ingrained in us. Do you have a regular time to read your Bible? That time should be ingrained in you. Your whole day should be skewed if you failed to have your daily time with God.
How about the way you treat others? Is it ingrained in you to be respectful and kind? Do you love others as Jesus loves us? Treating others with love should be second nature to us. Jesus said “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”. That amazing love should be part of your psyche to the point that you don’t think, you just do.
Is it ingrained in you to spend time in prayer? The Bible says pray without ceasing. That means never stop. There should be an ongoing conversation with God continually in your heart and mind.
My small group kids recently made prayer necklaces. They took small round washers and wrote “prayer” on them and then Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lords’ prayers) and hung them around their necks. When I asked them what they represented they told me that a circle never ends just like our prayers should never end. If my 2nd and 3rd graders get it, we as adult women should get it.
Spend time this week thinking about what is actually ingrained in you. Is it the fact that you can’t leave the dishes in the sink over night, or is it that you can’t start your day without dropping to your knees and thanking God for all He’s done? Is it something as silly as not wearing white shoes ‘til Easter or is it feeling off because you haven’t read your Bible today? As we head into this glorious season of Easter, let us spend time ingraining the Spirit of our Heavenly Father in every ounce of our being.
17 so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded so that together 18-19 with all of Your people they will have the power to understand that the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced. God may Your fullness flood through their entire beings. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
Still not wearing those shoes ‘til Easter….
Carol