“With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” Ephesians 4:2 (ESV)

The Pebble in Your Shoe

Ah, staff meetings. I don’t know about you, but I find them to be rather predictable, and at times quite tedious. I can tell you ahead of time who will state the obvious. I can tell you who will be asking the deep, intellectual questions that no one has an answer for (if we can even understand the question!) I can tell you who will be falling asleep. Even though I adore my coworkers, more often than not I will feel my eyes glaze over, and my mind wanders to pretty much everything except for what’s being discussed.

One of my coworkers and I often exchange eye rolls when meetings drone on, and we will even occasionally send the covert text of whatever clever comment we feel the need to make. After a meeting recently, he was standing in the hallway with a shoe removed. As I passed by, he held out his hand. “Look at this.” On his palm was a teeny, jagged pebble. “That meeting was like this being in my shoe!”

Wow, what a great analogy! A pebble is tiny, yet when we have one in our shoe, we will stop whatever we are doing to get rid of it. Wriggling it around may be a temporary fix, but the pebble will soon make its way back to the spot of annoyance.

There are many ways to deal with the “pebble.” One could get mad at it: “These people are so predictable! Why do I have to be here? What a waste of time!” You could feel victimized by it: “Surely no one else has to endure such things! Why does this always happen to me?” Or, you can remove it by changing your attitude: ”These meetings are not my favorite, but a staff meeting means I have a job. Thank You, Lord, for provision.”

If I bear my “pebble situations” with patience and love, as the Scripture above states, then it is much more likely that I can sit there and actually be present in these meetings, rather than letting them be the pebble in my shoe.

Are there pebbles in your shoe that can be removed with a little proper perspective?

 “Lord, thank You for giving me a new perspective on how I can better love those around me, and how I can be better at my job and in ministry. May I view things through Your lens, and not mine. In Jesus’ name, amen.”