Tonight we went out to buy our boys some new shoes. Our 7 and 5-year-old are really rough on shoes. The 5-year-old has been through 3 pairs of shoes since school started! He just wears holes in the toes of them, I have no idea how?
As I was thinking about having to buy them new shoes and lamenting the money that we would have to spend, I realized something. There are so many people around the world who cannot afford any shoes for their children. I was embarrassed when I realized that Jordan had huge holes in the front of his shoes and he had to wear them to preschool the other day like that. But so many children don’t have any shoes at all, much less ones with holes. It really puts things into perspective for me.
I read in the paper today that 1 out of every 2 people are poor or low-income. That is staggering! And that is just in the US, I can imagine what that number must be around the world. We are so blessed to be able to buy shoes for our children when they need them. We are blessed to be able to put food on the table everyday. Sometimes I lose sight of that in my effort to provide my family with everything they need. There are so many needy people around the world and some right next door. I will be thankful today that my children have new shoes and that I could afford to feed them three meals today. And I will not gripe about how much the shoes cost.
Armloads of Blessings 
I feel the same way, Ruth. I had to recently buy my boys new jeans because they have been growing so fast! I was pretty annoyed that the jeans we had already were not even going to make it through an entire season, and then I realized how blessed we are that if we need new jeans because our kids are growing like weeds then we can go get them. And it was another reminder that I should be thankful because I have healthy children who are growing. What better blessing could there be than that? I’ll be praying for all the families and children who are suffering and going without right now. Thank you for the reminder.