One of the blogs I read periodically had a post today about how we see ourselves. She writes about a conversation she had recently with a friend of hers who didn't think there was much interesting about her life. When the blogger listed all of the things she thought were interesting about her friend the friend had a counter-point to each. I resonate with this a lot. It's a lot easier for others to see my good points than for me to see them myself. When people pay me a compliment I tend to deflect it. Part of it is natural shyness. I don't like the attention on me. Which means I'm kind of in an odd profession. This is part of the reason for my shoes, my stripey socks, or the wild colors I used to paint my toenails. I find now as a pastor that it usually gives me enough of a feeling of identity to start conversations with people I don't know, but I still struggle with thinking I'm any good at engaging people in conversation. The shoes can be an entry into that conversation. People notice and comment, and then we go on to talk about other stuff. I know I'm more interesting than just my shoes. In ministry we are always being asked to assess our gifts and growing edges. I know I have both, and I know I should focus more on my gifts and try to be more aware of, and out front with, them. In them meantime I fall back on the shoe ploy.
Here are the latest calendar entries:
None of them do much for me, frankly. I like the middle pair best for their metallic shininess but could do without the detail on the toe. What I do appreciate about the last pair is that they say they are made from a recycled linen cash bag. I appreciate that approach, and the effort to reuse something and make it into something else functional. I just think they are ugly. :-)
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