I love shoes. I don't what it is about them. I would seriously be pretty happy wearing an old ratty pair of jeans and a thrift store shirt as long as I had on a slick pair of Saucony's (or something like that). I used to own a lot of shoes, well I still do. They aren't super expensive shoes, but I do like to think they're trendy. Some of them are so dear to me that I just can't get rid of them even though I haven't worn them in months.

I used to feel like I needed to have the newest shoes on the market. I don't feel like that anymore. Those shoes cost three times as much as much trendier "vintage" shoes at Ross. Plus, they are only awesome for the first week that you own them. When you first buy the brand new shoes, everyone notices. The next week, they are just used shoes. I think I used to just buy the new name brand shoes for that initial week of artificial love that I received.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy new or brand name shoes. I happen to try to avoid off-brand shoes because I don't like wearing shoes that come apart in chunks or act as pebble storage devices. I actually love picking up a nice pair of Nike's at Buffalo Exchange. I also love to get a nice new pair of shoes that fit just right and will last me a few years. What I am saying is that we should examine our reasons for doing things. Purchasing a high quality pair of shoes because we actually intend on using that 3 year guarantee is good. Buying some shoes for basketball that are built well for the sport is wise. On the other hand, the need to have the newest and "best" shoes just for the attention that we will receive is both vain and a complete waste of time and money. I am in recovery for this type thing. The first step in recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Let's be honest about why we do what we do and allow God to help us prioritize.

Is the best use of hundreds of dollars per year the acquisition of newer and more trendy foot coverings? Could we invest that money into the kingdom of God? Could we invest it into things that do not rot, that thieves cannot steal, and that are not going to just be dragged across the ground? So shoes are fun and we should enjoy them, but let's keep our priorities straight.

It's easy to think of what water could symbolize if you merely consider the ways that we need water in our daily lives. The most important use of water is to quench our thirst. If it weren't for water, we would die. That is why water is used as a symbol of life in the Bible. There is a river of life described in the book of Revelation and Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman about water that would provide everlasting life. Of course He wasn't talking about literal water. He was pointing the woman to a spring of water that flowed from God Himself, the real source of life that extended beyond the physical to eternity.
We also use water to clean ourselves. We wash before we eat to avoid germ contamination. We bathe our bodies to eliminate the oils, dirt and odors that our bodies produce. The water in scripture also symbolizes cleansing. Our spirits produce unclean things just as our physical bodies do. Just as our physical bodies need cleaning, so do our spirits. We see this when the Priests symbolically washed themselves before serving before God in the temple. We also see this in baptism where water is used to symbolize the cleansing of our inner self. See, even water has a deep significance.