It was 1951 when my pal Jill and I watched my family's first television walk through the door of my childhood home. Its glowing, ten-inch, black and white eye was encased in a piece of furniture the size of a boulder. My eight-year-old self was transfixed as if Merlin himself had entered our living room.
Commercials on a screen were a new phenomenon. One, in particular, caught my eye. A boy about my age ran like lightning across the screen. Why was he so fast? He was wearing a pair of magic shoes called U.S. Keds.
When my mother let me buy a pair I walked home cradling the shoe box as if Mercury himself were waiting inside to affix his wings to my feet. All I needed to do was slip on the shoes and I would be as fast as the kid on the screen.
I examined the U.S. Keds label, slipped my feet into the black canvas, tightened the white laces and prepared to become a human rocket. On our front lawn, I took up a starter's position and started to run. Mrs. Strubel, our next door neighbor, would surely be astounded by my new found speed.
I was shocked to find that I wasn't running any faster than I had been in my bare feet. How could this be? The commercial had promised me.
Everyone wants magic shoes. You already have them.
Today, put on the shoes of Love. They will bring you all the magic the world can give.
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
Leave a reply to Terry Chapman Cancel reply