As I walked through the Goodwill store in Lexington on Saturday (a favorite place for me and my friend to go together), I happened upon a stuffed animal that I'm guessing is some sort of special pillow but looks like a GIGANTIC SLIPPER.

I put it on the floor and jokingly said to Olivia, "Do you think this would fit Erich?"  As I looked down, though, and saw my foot next to the incredibly large, fluffy "dog slipper," I said to my friend Pam, "This is the shoe that grief wears."

The more I looked at it the more it spoke to the deepest part of my emotions.

See, grief is so much like this slipper.

Grief is big.

Grief makes walking difficult.

Grief doesn't match the shoe next to it.

Grief causes us to feel different in a crowd..sometimes like we just don't fit.

Grief is something that never seems comfortable or "right."

At the same time, like this fuzzy, soft, cozy slipper, grief can be a comforting emotion to curl up with on a rainy day and simply share the truth that you "feel sad or blue." 

Grief doesn't judge. 

And even when we stop walking in grief, we will always carry it with us.

Oh, I love my new slipper.  I wish I had one to mail to all of my grieving friends.

When I showed it to Tim last night and said, "This is the shoe grief wears," I think he thought I had lost my mind.

I smiled and said, "Really, I'm serious.  I'm going to wash this, and I may just sleep with it."

He smiled and said, "Ok."

I love when God works in ways that seem a little silly to the world.   He sent an enormous dog slipper to a Goodwill store in Lexington, Kentucky, for me...and I'm thankful.

God longs to make things simple...

I Corinthians 7:29-31

I do want to point out, friends, that time is of the essence. There is no time to waste, so don't complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple -in marriage, grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things-your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out.

This passage speaks to me today.

Tammy, keep your grief as simple as this slipper.  Wear it and then take it off and hold it..even cuddle it... but don't become entangled in it. 

I'm thankful that God led me to this slipper.

Because......

This is the shoe that grief wears, and I needed to know what it looked like.

  It's not as scary as I had thought.

Trusting Him for the strength to continue to walk in a shoe that often seems too big for me to handle...Thankful that I now know I can take it off and feel safe carrying it sometimes too,

(And Happy Birthday to my sweet Adrienne...she would have been 18 today and this would have been her senior year..wow....we've been walking in this slipper of grief for a long, long time....I'm so thankful that God walks with us.)