Tripping On Shoelaces

 

“Bit by bit, whatever you see to be petty becomes plenty.” ~ Israelmore Ayivor

The one thing I’m always extra conscious about when around children are untied shoelaces. There seems to be a laser beam in my brain that just keeps scanning the ground for a potential hazard – because untied shoelaces are a tripping hazard.

Shoelaces are small strings we use to tie our shoes and for some unknown reason, while growing up, all the schools I attended insisted on children wearing lace-up shoes. So you first had to learn to differentiate the left from the right shoe, then how to tie your laces, and finally how to keep them tied all day to avoid a nasty fall.

What got me thinking about shoelaces this week is a story about a pastor who had to take indefinite leave and will possibly be facing disciplinary and corrective action because of something that started like an untied shoelace and ended up as a face-plant with possibly some missing teeth. (A face-plant is a sudden face-first fall.) In this case, the shoelace was a private messaging function on a social media platform that did not remain as private as was expected, and it was indulged in by someone who should not have been entertained in the first place.

Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” This was in relation to money but I believe it can apply to anything – seemingly small moral lapses, not too harmful habits repeated over time, forbidden indulgences dipped into once in a while. You just have to look at the size of an axe blade in relation to the size of the trees it fells.

What are the small foxes you keep indulging in your life? Have any of your foxes grown into giants you can no longer tame or are struggling to chase out of your life?

I love baking but it does get tiring mixing up a whole cake just for me. So sometime back I discovered a mug cake – only a quarter cup of flour, no egg, mixed in a mug and microwaved for 2 minutes. Not as great as my signature oven-baked treats but perfect for a shoelace-size craving. It was great until . . . and I’m paying penance during my workout routines because small treats almost turned me into a big ship!

A harmless look around a page you have no business clicking on – and a porn addiction is born. You’re tired and a ‘friend’ advises you to try out a ‘harmless’ substance to relax you fast – and a drug addiction is born. A married man chatting with a witty female stranger online – and infidelity is not too far. Shoelaces. Small. Harmless even. But undone and unnoticed . . . Danger.

“Be wise today so you don’t cry tomorrow.” ~ E.A. Bucchianeri