The Old Shoe Irons

When I purchased my house in the village of Roland, I found a few things left here and there that I thought the descendants of the former owners might like to have: an end table, some framed pictures, a footstool… . Out in the garage were a camping lantern, a soldering iron, a chimneysweep's brush… .

I knew that it was wise to look after this matter right away, so I invited surviving relatives. Two sisters came. One asked for the set of foot-shaped shoe irons or "lasts" that I had noticed with a degree of curiosity before. She said that when she and her sister and two brothers had been children together out on the farm, their father had repaired their shoes himself.

For her, those old shoe lasts were not at all scrap metal. They were symbols of the providence and care of a loving father. She held them close as she carried them away.

For Christians, one symbol stands out above all others as representative of the providence and care of our loving heavenly Father: It is the cross — "the old rugged cross."

The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, points out that the cross shows us that our heavenly Father loves us to the extent that he "did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all" (Romans 8:32a NIV).

Then, he goes on to emphasize that the all-embracing love of the heavenly Father knows no limits; he asks, "How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32b)

How will we respond to this supreme love and care? Lord, "Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee."

Prayer: Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
By the power of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in thine. Amen.
       I am Thine, O Lord – Fanny J. Crosby