A friend noticed a small pair of bronze shoes on the mantle and asked what they were. I responded with the truth: they were my baby shoes my parents had bronzed many years ago. My friend didn't believe me.

As unaccustomed as he was to what was at one time a common practice, he thought I was making a joke. I wasn't.

In the past parents sometimes had their baby's first shoes bronzed because they represented a time that was special to their family. The attractively preserved shoes spoke of a time of love, learning, discovering, and growing.

With those baby shoes in mind, I am convinced there are some childlike qualities we should never outgrow. We should never outgrow our decision to love the Lord. We should never stop learning and embracing the new things the Lord shows us every day. We should never stop growing in our understanding of God's Word. We should never outgrow our dependence on one another when it comes to the enjoyment of fellowship and being of help to one another.

Though we have learned some of the precious things the Lord of life has revealed to us, we should be moved to say: "Lord, put me back in my baby shoes so that I will want to grow in You, learn of You, and humble myself to know I need you and others!"

The Bible says, "Being confident of this: that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ" Phl. 1:6.

Actors perform on stage; lumberjacks perform in forests; Doctors perform in surgery rooms; but God performs in our hearts, bringing us to the fullness of daily experiencing His love offered to us through a relationship with His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Pastor Greg Brownell

Dayton United Brethren Church