Shade Tree Wisdom 10/4/08

Most of us know lots of people, either they look familiar, or we know their names, etc. But we never really know people till we get a chance to sit down for a length of time together. (I often found the best time for exchanging confidences was at 2 a.m. in a hospital waiting room).

But we look for clues, for little things, to show who the real person is. Lucy asks Linus why he only shined the toes of his shoes, and he replied, “I care what people think when I enter a room, who cares what they think when I leave”. He was wrong. People noticed the backs of the shoes well before he left. As a matter of fact, for decades it was precisely to a man’s shoes people looked to determine his station in life. He might be wearing a gold watch on a fine chain, have rich looking silk ties for years, but he might skimp on replacing the heels of his shoes when cash was short, thinking no one would notice.

But people did notice. They learned to look for that very detail. So we have the expression, “well heeled”, or “down at the heels”. People looked at this tiny detail to check their financial status.

In the Mattlock series on TV, Mattlock is often shown busily shining his shoes. One of his staff asked why he did that, and he replied, ‘Because when I conduct a trial, the first thing people look at is my shoes, especially right here”, pointing at the instep, ”to check me out”.

If you visit a Nordstrom store, check out the chairs in the shoe department. They are a little lower than an ordinary chair and have a firm seat. Nordstrom designed those chairs because they noticed how hard it was for customers to get up from a heavily padded chair. Why do that sort of thing? Because the little things attract and keep customers.

Do little things matter? They form and shape us, they leave a bit of trace deep in our being, so maybe the next ‘little’ sin becomes easier, and we fall more easily into Satan’s traps.

That is why the Christian lives with the constant reminder that “Thou, Lord, seest Me.” And that God’s promise is this, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the earth”.

Little things. Details. Omit them not, because life is really made up of little things isn’t it?

May the Lord bless you ever, in all your life as you glorify His Name.

GPD 10/4/08