No Price Tag

 "The bittersweet side of appreciating life's most precious moments is the unbearable awareness that those moments are passing." Marc Parent

10 years ago I went to one of those stores where they tell you what shoes to buy. That was the last time I bought a pair of tennis shoes. Those have long since been worn out. In the meantime, various pairs of hand me down shoes have shown up here and I've tried to make them work.

Consistently my feet hurt after I walk.

This weekend I finally decided "enough" and went to a different store but same concept.

I answered questions about where I walk, how much I walk, no I do not run. Ever. I tried shoes on. I said what I liked, what I didn't. New options were brought to me.

For a full hour these kind employees made me feel like me having comfortable shoes to walk in was a priority for them to. I was worthy of having "good" shoes.

I kept coming back to this coral pair of shoes. They aren't the lightest pair I tried on. They are a lot more "shoe" than I've been wearing. But they provide good support all over my foot and have a thick sole that absorbs some of the wear and tear of walking.

I noticed that there were no price tags in this store. No prices on shoes. No prices on shoe displays. No prices on shoe boxes. In a very UNLIKE me move, I got to the register without ever asking how much these shoes were.

I assumed they would be expensive.

I had NO idea how expensive they were until that moment where she said the total and I was handing over my debit card.

There was a moment when I wanted to say "NO" and pick a shoe I liked less that cost less.

I looked at the employee and felt this understood, unsaid conversation.

"Trust me. I know shoes. These shoes are the best ones for your feet. They will be worth the cost."

I signed my receipt.

Yesterday afternoon I put these new shoes on and took them for a spin around my neighborhood.

I'm going to confess they take a bit to get used to but often feel like you are walking on clouds.

As I put one foot in front of the other, I thought of how many times I make decisions based on cost.

It seems responsible right - to know how much something is going to cost you before you say "yes."

I think this is the conundrum I consistently circle back to with God.

He wants me to buy the shoes before I know what they will cost.

He wants me to say yes to the request without knowing how it will turn out.

He wants me to trust that the request will be what's best for me regardless of the cost.

The cost will be worth the investment.

Mama Warriors, it's so easy to get caught up in the cost analysis style of living. Trying to balance some invisible spreadsheet.

Trust that what He asks will be worth it.

Buy the shoes with no price tag.