Silver Sparkly Shoes

A few days ago, I was feeling sluggish and a little bit down as I began my day. I love working in a hospital but I will say, sometimes the beige walls, white floors, and florescent lights can bring me down. As I was looking down at the ground, I turned to the person next to me and saw their shoes, pointy toed, silver colored, sparkly to the extreme. I immediately found myself smiling and I felt lighter—this stranger’s shoes brought me joy and suddenly my day felt a little brighter, a little less heavy. And a few days later I was able to share with the owner of such a fabulous pair of shoes, how much I loved them.

In my introduction to this reflection series I mentioned that some of the joy I will list here is bound to be considered frivolous by some. And I think that is the beauty of this whole intentional practice—I want to find God in the surprising and unexpected places, like the joy of seeing someone’s sparkly shoes. The thing is, what sparks joy in me tells me about myself—I love sparkly fun shoes and it let me in on what another person finds joy in too! And it helped me connect with them, they are less of a stranger now than they were just a few days ago.

Perhaps joy is another lovely bridge to connection. Connecting with ourselves, with God, and with others. So maybe the joy I felt from looking at those sparkly shoes wasn’t really all that frivolous after all. Maybe in my fear of disapproval or judgment for my seemingly frivolous joys I am missing how God shows up in those places too.