When the Other Shoe Drops

Sometimes when I step back and look at the things I say I realize I say a ton of things I don't understand. Tons. I say "oofda" like 5 times a day as an expression of frustration or weariness, and I think that's a Norwegian curse word or something (Thanks, Bopa).



I usually also say a lot of colloquial, slangy phrases ways that must "make sense", but I truly don't understand what they actually mean. For example, the phrase "waiting for the other shoe to drop" - what does that really mean? We all use it as a phrase to mean that we're anticipating some kind of event (usually something inauspicious), but where did it come from? I looked up the meaning of the phrase, and Michael Quinion, who "writes on international English from a British viewpoint" had the most condensed version on the origin of this quote. Apparently in 1943 there was a cartoon published of Hitler holding a shoe, and inside the word bubble was the quote "waiting for the other shoe to drop". This indicates the phrase was well-known even then. Originally, people (or Michael Quinion) guess that the phrase came from a story/legend/vaudeville show/ or possible sitcom sketch in which a man comes home late at night, sits down on his bed, wearily takes off a shoe, and tosses it clunkily on the floor. He lives in a bunkhouse and suddenly realizes that everyone else is trying to sleep, so he takes off the other shoe a lot more carefully and gently sets it on the floor. As he crawls into bed and has just about fallen asleep, a man in the room below shouts "Well, drop the other one then! I can't sleep, waiting for you to drop the other shoe!"



Life can feel like that sometimes; life can feel like we're just waiting on the other shoe to drop. We send a letter out, and we wait for the "other shoe" to drop in the response we receive to that letter. We ask someone to be friends on Facebook and we wait for the "other shoe" to show itself in either an acceptance or a refusal. We accidentally gossip about someone and see what "other shoe" falls socially.



Sometimes it's not so cause-and-effect. Sometimes life can feel like a rain of shoes - bad things keep happening left and right, and we're just grudgingly waiting for the next shoe to clunk us in the head, hoping that it's not a soul-piercing stiletto or a 10-pound army boot. Most often when we think the "rain" of terror is over (sorry about the pun...) the "other shoe" falls when we least expect it and we're failed and flattened. Wiped out. Wan. When life is like that, it sucks.



It's not all gloom and doom though, sometimes life can be a happy rain of shoes! Sometimes positive things keep happening left and right and right and left in life, and it's like getting boxes of new shoes all day long. We get sparkling ballet flats of praise, moccasins of comfort, slippers of success. When we're waiting for the "other shoe to drop" in that kind of shiny situation, we can only rub our hands delightedly, thinking "What kind of shoes can these be?!"



Life has been a "rain of shoes" (pardon the nerdy metaphor) for me lately. It's been a little cause-and-effect. Turns out I didn't make the musical (bummer) but! A positive that came out of this was that I joined the MLC soccer team! And I love it! Not only are the girls really nice, but I also had forgotten how much I love soccer. As I keep practicing I remember more and more of my old soccer skills, and it's refreshing and exciting to get to use them again. To top it all off, what number jersey did I get last second? Number 22!! My favorite number! Ahh, it's fate. The numbers agree, I was destined to be in soccer...



The "other shoe" that fell from joining the soccer team was all the really nice people I met because of it. Meeting a whole bunch of new people here this weekend was like opening box after box of new shoes - so exciting! Fun after fun after fun. I can only smile delightedly and think "Who am I going to meet next?" Everyone here is oh-so kind. Not that people in Madison weren't; they're super nice too. It's just that a lot of acquaintances I met in discussion sections in Madison wouldn't say "hi" to you the next day in class or kind of meanly stared you down if you tried to sit by them in a lecture hall. Cripes.



(See! I'm even doing it here. What the heck does "cripes" mean?! Crepes? Are cripes bad crepes? Hey, google...)



Life throws plenty of situations at us where all that seem to fall are the bad shoes, and they pile up so high that we crumple under our worries. We're buried in grief, regret, pain, and doubt, and we feel like we'll never be able to crawl out from under that mountain of care. It's times like this passages like I Corinthians 10:13 shine like a ray of hope:

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it".

We feel like life has it out to get us, but really? We're no different. There's nothing new under the sun. Nothing has seized us except for the common things. There's been peer pressure, hurt feelings, relationship drama, and heartbreak since the dawn of time. From one viewpoint, we're nothing special. We're just one of billions, trillions, gazillions - a speck in a sea of mediocrity. Nameless. Faceless. We don't deserve earthly love; how much more don't we deserve heavenly love? YET, we're loved so much individually that that God knows my name - me, the speck - and He knows yours too. He knows our cares, wants, fears. He knows you have 13 freckles on your back and He knows what boy you like. He knows if it's going to work out or not. He knows. We're common, and He uncommonly loves us. What a conundrum.

His love for us makes us feel like we're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Sure, God loves us, yadda yadda yadda... but what next? What do I have to do?" As sinful humans, it leaves us hanging in suspense. There must be a catch. There's always a catch. "When's the other shoe going drop?"

With God, the great thing is that no other shoe falls. Ever.

God IS faithful.

So. Shoes have been falling. A few tiny bad ones in the form of twinges of missing Madison and not making the musical, a bunch of great ones in the shape of new friends and the joy of grass and soccer, and finally, a couple interesting cause-and-effect situations that require some more thought... but the shoes are falling. And they're falling into place.

I hope and pray that the shoes are falling in place for you as well.

(P.S - I looked up "cripes" - it's "an interjection used to express dismay, surprise, disgust, annoyance, etc." Guess the origin? It's a euphamism for "Christ". Guess I won't be saying "Cripes" anymore... sheesh...)

(P.P.S - I just typed "sheesh" so I looked that up too on the same website. It is also "an interjection used to express dismay, surprise, disgust, annoyance, etc." Guess this origin? Turns out it's a euphamism for "jeez" which is a euphamism for "Jesus!" AHHH I am never using these words again. Who knew I was practically swearing all this time, and the two worst words to use as swears EVER? Wow. )

(P.P.P.S - I looked up "wow". Thankfully that's not a euphamism for anything. The end).