My Dog-ugly Comfy Shoes

by Rhonda Rhea

Okay, I wrote the book titled High Heels in High Places so I’m about to share something with you that’s top secret. Hush-hush info here. I have this favorite pair of shoes. Love ‘em, I tell you. And they are...(should I really admit this?)…UGLY. Hideous. No heels. No glam. No style at all, really. Black, plain—a total yawn of a shoe. I'm wearing them right now. Excuse me, did I just yawn again?
 
How can a person who wrote an entire book around a cute shoe theme show her feet in public in less than a three-inch heel? It's embarrassing.

It's just that these things are so comfy. Dog-ugly, but really comfy.

Isn't it funny how we can end up doing something pretty out of character—like wearing dog-ugly shoes—for the sake of comfort? I really love it that when we come to Christ, he starts changing us from the inside out. We find that what once seemed like a good life-fit, is not so comfy any more. And what we would've thought would be totally "out there" style-wise becomes what we really want to put on. Isn't that glorious?

First Corinthians 6:9-10 gives us an uncomfortable list of the dog-ugliest sins. Then the next verse points out "And that is what some of you were." Praise God for the next part of that verse! "But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." From dog-ugly to beautiful—all by the work of Jesus!

Jesus is the one who started the work, and he is the one who will complete it. Paul said in Philippians 1:6, “And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ right up to the time of His return, developing that good work and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you,” (AMP). I think that means that he’ll continue to adjust our comfort zones as we grow in him and become more like him. Funny that as uncomfortable as that sounds, it’s actually the very comfiest way to live. 

In light of that, why should I waste even one second fretting over footwear? Glamorous or hideous, there’s not going to be a lot of impact on eternity there. Besides, I think I might've actually found an outfit that goes with these dog-ugly shoes. I knew it from the second I put it on. Because I yawned.