So this is a bit of a spoiler... sorry if you haven't gotten to this story in this month's Ensign (click here to view the Jan Ensign) but I read this story yesterday and was moved by it. So much that it made it into my journal and I thought I should post it here.
Daddy’s Shoes
Priscilla Costa Xavier, São Paulo, Brazil
Several years ago while my parents were helping the Relief Society organize some clothes, shoes, and other items to be donated to the needy, my father noticed a well-kept pair of shoes in the middle of a pile of items. At that moment he felt a strong impression to keep the shoes.
My mother laughed and said, “This pair of shoes is three sizes too small for you. They wouldn’t even fit!”
My father, however, strongly insisted. After several jokes from the sisters, they finally allowed him to keep the shoes.
As soon as he arrived home, he cleaned them, filled them with newspaper, and placed them in a box on top of his dresser. We received instructions not to touch the box. For five years it remained in the same place.
One day a new family moved into the house next door. They had two children and a six-month-old baby. My sister and I immediately became friends with their two girls, who were our age. We shared with our new friends what we were learning in church, and we invited them to Primary. They were excited and eager to learn more about what we had shared with them.
After returning home from Primary, they didn’t stop talking about the Church with their parents. Our parents then invited the whole family to hear the missionary lessons and go to church. They joyfully accepted. They loved the lessons, and we were excited to attend church with them.
But when Saturday came, their daughters seemed disheartened. When we asked what was wrong, they said their parents no longer wanted to go to church.
We were disappointed and asked Daddy to talk with their parents. When he told them about the blessings of attending church, the father replied, “Yes, I know all of this. The problem is that I haven’t worn any other kind of shoe besides my sneakers in a long time, and I know that we should go to Church meetings well dressed.”
At that moment my father looked at my mother. She knew exactly what to do. The shoes in the box on top of Daddy’s dresser fit our friends’ father perfectly, and the entire family went to church. It was a wonderful Sunday for them and for us. Soon they became members of the Church, and today they are a beautiful eternal family.
I know that my father received direction from the Holy Ghost to keep those shoes. As a result, I always seek His guidance in looking for families ready to hear the gospel. I know He prepares families, and I know we need to look for them and bring them to Christ.
The whole concept of the story is amazing to me. The dad felt to keep the shoes... was even teased for it. He took them home and cleaned them and then put them up with the request that on one touch them...
I hope I would follow such an impression, and I believe that I would have. HOWEVER at the end of a month, maybe two months, I would be tempted to think that I was a little crazy for keeping the shoes. And sure at the end of the first year with spring cleaning and getting rid of items I no longer use... I would have picked up those shoes and shrugged my shoulders, told myself that it was interesting that I had had the prompting to follow but to what fruit (?) and then I would have given the shoes away. But not THIS man! For FIVE YEARS he held onto the shoes! FIVE YEARS!! And surely the end of the story makes the five years all the more beautiful and magnificent.
God knew that the family moving next store would have their girls start to go to church. And God knew that man next door so well, that when the time came to come to church He knew the man would be embarrassed to go to church in sneakers, thus stopping the man from actually following through with his desire to go to church in the first place. SOOO Heavenly Father prompted someone to keep a pair of shoes. (And what steps in the man's life who kept the shoes had he gone through, to be able to recognize and then act on a prompting of the spirit?! That in itself must be an awesome journey.) That faithful man for five years kept the shoes... until the unfolding of God's masterful plan! And surely there are so many more details to God's plan.... I am only stating the ones that I can see. (And we know, that man's wisdom is nothing compared to God's.)
God knows us perfectly. He knows our past, present and future. What projects/promptings has He started five, ten, twenty, one hundred years ago to bring about sweet "fruit" in my/our every day life?!
Our journey started LONG before coming into our mother's womb. God's plan was set in motion with Christ as our Savior, and all of us who have ever come to earth, shouted for joy at the opportunity to come to earth. We were joyful at the idea of being able to become more like our Heavenly Father. More like Him in the fact we would get a body by coming to earth and have opportunities to grow and progress. We would make mistakes here on earth, repentance needed and a way to overcome sin... because we all sin. And the only way to return to live with our Heavenly Father someday is to be clean, completely. Our Heavenly Father knew this, so in His perfect and infinite wisdom He provided a Savior, His only begotten son in the flesh, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ, being prepared, but still having the choice to not be the/OUR Savior, came and chose to be obedient to the Father's plan. Jesus Christ suffered and died, and then triumphed over the grave just so you and I could have the opportunity TO choose to follow Heavenly Father while here in the mortal state of our existence.... talk about thousands + years (we don't know with God's counting of "time") that God placed all these things in motion just for us to be here on earth, now and experience the things we need. ... How many "pairs of shoes" does Heavenly Father have stored for us in the closet of life?!!! In the closet of the eternities?! And how long have some of those shoes [blessings] been waiting for the right, specific moment?! Well getting married to an eternal companion, will SURELY be one of those SWEET pairs of shoes, that I would suspect God, at least on my end has been working saving/working on my whole life, and maybe it started with ancestors and traits and stories of faith passed on....
God's closet of shoes must be HUGE! I have choice blessings that happen each day. Some in a moment, and some blessings [shoes] that I can see were prepared way before I ever received them!
So why a snail for Joseph Smith's quote of "When the Lord commands, do it"? I walked out of the Condo this past year and found this little guy creeping across my sidewalk. (I have to give him credit, his shell was quite beautiful, although I was in NO hurry to pick him up and take him home.) But this little snail seemed to have the longest journey to get across a walk way. A cement path I deemed as pretty smooth concrete, however when getting that close to the snail I discovered, as you can see in the picture, how rough and rugged the cement really was. And to a tiny snail, surely the openings in the cement could not feel amazing to slide across. (Is that what a snail does anyway, slide?! :D) That little snail, when viewing life at "his" view, although I deemed and walked the same path many times and praised my "smooth" sidewalks... once in the sight of his path, I was able to see that his journey was quite rough and rugged. How choice when God allows us to view someone's journey from their own perspective.
Everyone, even snails, have battles they are facing! The little snail didn't give up! (After staring at it for a few moments, I think I saw it move one 1mm! I know I at least saw one of it's antenna things wiggle! ;) )
A man held onto a pair of shoes, too small for him, for 5 years, not knowing why.
We never know what pair of "shoes" HE [our Father in Heaven] is preparing for the exact moment someone will need the shoes on their feet.
Truly when the Lord commands, DO IT!
BLESS God's SHOES!!
And bless the person who is "storing" a pair of His shoes!
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