Work boots

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” Colossians 3:23 NIV

There is a saying that you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their shoes. My dad used to wear work boots. He drove and loaded trucks, so his boots were normally pretty worn. He also went through a low top steel toe phase with which he wore white socks. For some reason he also used to roll up his pant legs sort of like a cuff. It was an iconic look.

I remember my first pair of work boots. I had my first job at around 15 or 16 years old. I got it the same day he handed me the car keys and said, “Go find a job!” The implication was clear. Don’t come home without one. He meant it. I now wear work boots working around the yard and much to my daughters chagrin I wear them with shorts. It’s my iconic look I guess.

I had an experience this past week I really never thought I would get. I took my son to get his first pair of work boots. My son works at a home for adult men. Although they are not breaking his back, it is all physical labor. This is his second summer and this year they gave him a gift card to get a pair of boots. He wears his with joggers, also an iconic look.

Last year I worked with him. I loved it. It is a special place with leaders who have hearts to match the task. They asked him to do things I thought would prove to be past his limit. He did literally everything they asked him to do. I watched him overcome sensory issues one after the other. It may not mean much without knowing him, but he walked into a chicken coop that had chickens in it. He had ear protection on, but he kept pulling it off to check. It looked like he was measuring his tolerance level. He proceeded to gather a dozen or so eggs that we took home to his mom. I just asked “Do you want know how we got those?” Neither of us would not have believed it without one of us seeing it. There is something special about working elbow to elbow with your child.

This summer the work has been different. The boss lady with the golden heart sent me a text about three months prior to summer to let my heart catch up to her idea. She wanted to try having him work with her and some other staff, without me. I was hesitant, but she was persistent. So, for the first two or three days I stayed with him. Then I started leaving him there.

It doesn’t sound like much of a challenge, but man my heart was fighting. I do not know if she saw me but the first couple of times I left him there with them I circled back on foot to watch from a distance. Thirty acres and a lot of trees facilitate sneaking pretty well. I guess I thought they might be beating him with sticks or something. Kidding.

Her goal was simply to facilitate him doing new things. But she knew it would be better for him to do this on his own. I know she is right, but it is still hard to leave your heart and lose what I perceive as protection. Ironically, that protection can end up suffocating him.

Some thoughts hit me on the road home today. I’ve been a grumbly about my job lately. Sales are slower and all that, but I remembered my dad would never let me gripe about work. He would just ask when I was going to give my paycheck back. Discussion over. Work was an expectation. If you wanted to gripe about your job, go get one you do like and get back to it. This may sound like a negative, but it was not.

If I want to fulfill my job as a spiritual leader of my kids, I have to let them have free will. At times they want that freedom before they are ready for it. At times they are more ready than I think. Sometimes that places me shoulder to shoulder with them, but I have begrudgingly learned that sometimes my best place of observation is tucked into the trees from a distance.

But that is no different than me wanting free will in any area of my life. God gives me that same freedom. Sometimes I feel Him close. Sometimes I feel like He is watching me from His measure of distance. If He always intervenes, I never grow. If He never tests me, even I am never made aware of my own perceived limits that I have blown right past.

What is your biggest obstacle?

What was your biggest obstacle five years ago? Ten years ago? Last week? If you cannot remember, the obstacle may not have been as bad as you imagined at the time, or you have grown right past it.

Challenge: As a father, setting yourself up to have the heart ripped out of your chest only to have it put back fuller than it was before. As a believer, realizing that God has the same view of us when He is helping us grow.

Rick Claiborn