A Parable

This morning I rolled into church, settled into my seat, and crossed my left leg over my right while swinging my foot in my typical fidgety fashion. Almost immediately a very unpleasant smell reached my nose. I thought “ok, someone’s gassy,” and tried to focus but the smell just didn’t go away. In fact it didn’t diminish at all. It didn’t take long for me to decide someone had pooped themselves. In church.  Surreptitiously I cast my eyes around checking for someone who appeared to be in the throes of gastrointestinal distress. Everyone around me seemed fine. I was puzzled, but continued to sit there swinging my foot and trying to breathe through my mouth. 

A few minutes later my eyes happened to land on my left foot. Now I know I’ve had issues in the past with wearing boots that did not match. I am proud to tell you all that on today my boots matched. I am not proud to tell you that I had stepped in dog doo and the horrible smell I was smelling was ME.  I had walked the dogs one last time before heading to church and had quite literally stepped in it. And all the foot bouncing I was doing was just fanning the smell around.  I had to leave church in order to clean dog poop off my shoe. Who else but me would this happen to? But I think there’s a lesson to be learned in all this. 

The sermon today happened to be on parables, which  was ironic to me given that the Bible says things like “get the beam out of your own eye before you get the speck out of someone else’s” and there I was wearing dog poo shoes and wondering who it was around me that smelled so bad. Always, always check your own boots before judging anybody else. Furthermore, if you’re local and are interested in attending a church that is open and loving no matter what I highly recommend Church of the Crossroads because THEY LET ME GO THERE. Lastly, if you feel down or discouraged, I actually have friends and family that love me in spite of  (or maybe because of) my tendency to get myself into situations like this, so there’s hope for you too. Be extra kind this holiday season because you never know what other people may be stepping in.  And remember to always check your own boots first.