Old Boots and Old Friends
Old boots are much like old friends. They started out maybe a little stiff and came across somewhat stand-offish.. At first they may not have seemed a perfect fit but the more time I spent with them the more we molded into one. As we walked the roads together, we became a team of one.
We have traveled through difficult valleys, forded swollen streams, climbed high mountains, and came back down into the valley toward home. These old boots have protected me from rocks, thistles, thorns, scorpions, and briars; they didn’t seem to care too much for the difficulties I pushed them through.
These old boots are now my best friends even though they have lost their store-bought shimmer and are now covered with history’s dust. Journeying with them is now easier because the wrinkles have made them just the right fit. They may look tired and tattered to strangers but to me they are just perfect and right.
When I see them in the corner, they beckon me to hit the road again. I lace them up tight and firm, wondering what places we will transcend. I’m not sure what may be around the next curve but my familiar friends keep me stepping on. I wouldn’t want to make the journey without them because my steps would be just too slow.
I know the day will come when their “soles” are gone away. I will reluctantly bid them farewell knowing that our journey has been blessed. My memories of the roads we walked, will never fade away. My old boots have served me well and the treasures we have often found, were on the journey of trails too few have trodden long. We seldom walked on smooth roadways but pathways of rock, dirt, and mud. Now our journey will one day end and with joyful sadness we will part. Both of us will surely agree; it was better to have gone and weathered the journey than to have never made a start.
Scripture: “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24 NKJV).
My prayer: Thank you Lord for old boots and old friends. They have journeyed and weathered the road with us. The journey would not have been the same without them. Thank you for old boots and old friends as their wrinkles remind us not of their age but of the journey.
–Harry Whitt
Pathway Journey 