"Teachable Moments: New Shoes"

As quickly as children grow, my daughter was in need of new shoes for the Fall Basketball Season. Her tryouts were upon us and we set out to purchase some new shoes. She didn't wear the shoes to break them in prior to, so her first chance to do so was during her basketball tryouts. She comes over to me and said, "Dad, these shoes don't feel right, they are uncomfortable." I relaced the shoes, tied them better and asked her how they felt. "They feel much better. Thanks Dad!"

After the tryout session she informed me that although the new shoes felt better, she still wasn't used to them just yet.

Fast forward to our 5k Run a few days later: The night before our run, I purchased some new running shoes that I broke in as I tried them on in the store that night. As we were in the first one and a half mile of our run, I started to feel the discomfort of the new shoes that my body had not acclimated itself to. In just a matter of days, I was overwhelmed with an epiphany in the form of another "Teachable Moment."

When my daughter first told me about her new shoes not feeling comfortable, I admittedly was more concerned about the fact that she not only picked out the shoes that she wanted, but she tried them on as well, with no problems.

It was not until a few days later when I experienced the same type of discomfort with my new shoes that I realized that my level of compassion had more room for improvement. Why did it take my own "uncomfortable experience" in order to be compassionate about someone else's "uncomfortable experience?"

Sometimes we do not need to "understand" what is going on in order to have compassion in and towards the situation that other's are going through. We need not factor in how WE feel, when quite frankly it has nothing to do with how WE feel, rather it has everything to do with how others are feeling in the moment, at that exact time.

I am reminded that God has a sense of humor and when my daughter kicked my butt in the 5k run, I was humbled in my ignorant state, that I no longer claim.

Later on in the day after having licked my wounds, I spoke to my daughter and drew the correlation of her new shoes and Dad's new shoes before I acknowledged my compassionate shortcoming in that instance, prior to apologizing to her.

As we build upon our Father/Daughter Relationship, I will use this "Teachable Moment" to make me a better, more understanding and Compassionate Dad. She deserves it and I have definitely learned from it.

I Thank You Jesus for being the FIRST demonstration of Unparalleled Compassion, as I share in this "Teachable Moments: New Shoes."

God, Love, And Smile Always!
Corey A. Ford