I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.”
Well, sometimes you may walk the same mile, but the shoes you wear make all the difference.
My wife and I like to take our dogs on a walk around San Gabriel Park, which is about 1.6 miles. When walking in tennis shoes, walking the dogs is effortless.
Not too long ago, I went to a conference in Fort Worth. The walk from the hotel to the conference center was the same distance as it is around San Gabriel Park — 1.6 miles. Walking 1.6 miles in downtown Fort Worth in dress shoes was not effortless though — it was painful.
The change in shoes made me take the time to slow down. Fortunately, the slower walk did make the destination so much better.
This season, we celebrate Advent which comes from the Latin word “Adventus,” meaning “coming.”
Like the 1.6 mile walk, Advent is all about the shoes as we travel. The pace at which we walk makes a difference.
As a kid, we didn’t celebrate the Advent season. We only celebrated Christmas morning. We didn’t focus much on the journey, but rather on the destination.
As I became part of a more liturgical church my freshman year of college, we began to put more emphasis on the journey itself. The Advent season is so much more meaningful to me now.
This advent, we celebrate Hope, Peace, Joy, Love. Whether this is your first Advent season to celebrate, your 10th or your 50th, I pray you walk this journey slowly.
Take time to cherish the coming of Christ. The destination will mean so much more more once you get there. Remember the shoes you wear and the pace you travel will affect your experience in this Advent season.
Rev. Kyle Tubbs is the Church Planter & Primary Teaching Pastor at Grace Baptist Church.