Valuation Change

My pair of cute shoes remind me daily how much everything’s changed.

In mid-February, I was beginning to get the Spring-is-coming itch and wanted a pair of cute spring shoes. I only have cold-weather boots and warm weather sandals, so I thought it’d be reasonable to get a pair of cute sensible springy shoes. Of course, at that point it was still freezing cold and pouring rain, so I didn’t need them at that moment. But I wanted them at that moment, and $30 is a steal so I snagged a pair and set them aside for warmer days.

Little did I know that this Spring I would barely be wearing shoes!

In the last month I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve left my house, and the majority of those trips has been to Winco foods. I don’t need cute shoes to go to Winco foods. Around our property I wear my beat-up trail-running shoes, or muck boots.

Quite frankly, cute spring shoes are useless right now.

It’s a silly example, but it’s interesting how drastically valuations can change, nearly overnight. Suddenly, toilet paper is valuable. Rice is valuable. Butter is valuable (Well, butter was always valuable to me). Giving my money to those in desperate situations worldwide is valuable.

You know what’s worthless right now? Cute shoes.

I was thinking the same thing about people. Suddenly we’re SUPER grateful for grocery-store clerks. (Winco grocery-clerks have been SO cheerful and helpful!) Hospital janitors (!). Nurses. UPS delivery drivers. Unseen Amazon workers filling orders. The garbage-truck driver. People who clean the Costco-stores after hours. Our estimation of them has risen dramatically!

No offense to professional athletes and celebrities, but right now the truck driver and hospital janitor are who I’m celebrating. In fact, could you NBA guys grab a sewing machine and start sewing masks? There’s work to do.

Again I’ll say, disease isn’t good, but God uses all for good. Isn’t this what “reevaluation” is all about? When we “re-evalute,” we’re looking at things with fresh eyes to attempt to place true value on what really matters.

I believe that someday when we wake up in heaven, this will be what it’s like. Suddenly the TRUE VALUE of things will be made clear. That’s why the Bible tells us not to store up treasures here on earth. When we wake up someday to eternal realities, my cute shoes will be turned to dust, but the money or time I invested serving those around me will somehow shine like gold.

Please don’t hear me say cute shoes are bad, but my ill-timed investment in them reminds me: Only God knows what we really need for what’s to come.

I might think that the world needs another book published. He may be telling me to spend my time on other endeavors instead. I might think that we really need XYZ done on our house. He might be telling me that investing in this other direction might be a lot wiser. I might set my sights on a certain career or vocation, but God knows what jobs will even be around in the future.

I’m grateful for the fact that this situation has shown us one thing: Everything can change very quickly and only God has the Omniscient wisdom to guide us through a future that only He knows.

More than ever, we need the humility to ask God for His direction, and trust that He knows best, even if doesn’t make sense. {Thanks for reading.}