Coffee and Shoes in the Doorway

Morning Story and Dilbert

Vintage Dilbert
February 21, 2013

Mrs. Durango has one rather strict rule. Everyone who lives in our house is expected to live by this rule, those that don’t inevitably pay the consequences.

It’s a rather simple rule, all Mrs. Durango asks is that we all take our shoes off when we come in the house and that we put them away.

This has been a standard rule around the Durango household since day one.

Now for one reason or another it seems that my 3 sons have a real problem following this simple rule.

My youngest son usually forgets the entire rule altogether, he is the one most likely to be tracking the mud across the carpeting or the freshly cleaned kitchen floor.

But even when he does remember to remove his shoes he ends up leaving them right in front of the front door, next to his brother’s shoes.

You see that’s where the other 2 boys fall short of following the rule, they never put their shoes away, they leave them right in front of the doorway.

Not only do they drop their shoes there, it seems anything they bring in the house with them gets dropped there as well . . . baseball gloves, footballs, skateboards . . . anything and everything!

Well that was exactly what brought Mrs. Durango to the boiling point last night.

For quite sometime now “Mom” has been threatening to throw anything left in front of the doorway out onto the front lawn.

Last night as we were leaving the house to go to dinner “Mom” tripped over the sneakers left at the front door.

Needless to say, Mrs. Durango blew a gasket over it and holding true to her word, she threw all the shoes, sneakers, baseball gloves and everything else left in the doorway out onto the front lawn.

The boys were already outside waiting to get into the car when they saw all their stuff being tossed out onto the front lawn.

Of course they were all apologetic and said that they all had meant to put the stuff away but they just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.

So this morning as I was sitting there sipping my coffee I thought about all that happened last night.

I thought about how those boys knew what the rule was . . . how they all know the consequences of NOT following the rule and how they had been warned about the idea of finding their stuff out on the front lawn.

Then I thought about how the Lord has set down certain rules for us to follow, we know them, they are all found right there in that book of guidelines called the Bible.

I thought about how us not following those rules results in us committing sin . . .

And how we have been told to remove sin from our lives, repent and sin no more.

Then I wondered how many of us are just like those boys of mine . . .

How many of us will be apologizing and saying “I meant to do that but didn’t have the time” when we meet Our Lord and he says to us “I never knew you”!

Just a thought over coffee.

Author Unknown - Comment if you know the author
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20 comments
  1. "Working for Christ" said:

    Now that’s an excellent, five-cup coffee conversation! Have a nice weekend, Kenny T! God bless! 🙂

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  2. Thanks so much for sharing … WOW, with three teen age boys at my house, can I relate this morning! … and now I will get me another cup of coffee and ponder a while

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  3. Rebecca said:

    Wonderful thought! Life-lessons last the longest, perhaps one day those boys will do just as you did, sit down over a cup of coffee and realize the importance of what they’ve learned, then pass it on. Thank God for his mercy and for his instruction book! God bless, have a wonderful day :).

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  4. As soon as I began reading and as I continued I saw the importance of one rule, to love our parents, not only our Father but our Mother too. The importance of our feet not just our foot being cleansed as we walk with Christ. LOVE the story the post and the moral.

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  5. I wish I knew the writer! We have kindred spirits! How I love to fellowship with people who see God and God’s ways in the simple, everyday things of life. I just think I will be lazy and reblog this one! I’ll be back to visit this one soon.

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  6. Oh, I forgot to mention, Dilbert was good too! Particularly so in light of last week’s space incident.

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  7. Sigh…Right there with you, Mrs. Durango. Several years ago, I had a similar gasket issue and started chucking shoes out the garage door, only my notorious aim sent one through the garage window instead. My husband still thinks I did it on purpose. As I repeat myself – to slow-learning children- about the time frustration boils over, I am reminded how often God has repeated his instructions,encouragement, and admonitions, to me. I am thankful for both his patience, and his willingness to stick-out this long learning curve. But, lest I miss the point, I am glad His holiness is worth pursuing with a whole heart.

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  8. The law was fulfilled why do we always fall from grace, and cling to the old, why can we not put on the new and allow CHRIST to write them on our hearts so they become character, ours and we will not sin, but remember if there is no law it has been fulfilled, then their is no sin. With love write these rules on your children’s heart trough maybe vigilance on your part.

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  9. ramblingsofabipolarwoman said:

    I think many of us are like that indeed. How often do we disobey the simple rules we’re to follow and then what’s our punishment? I am a parent of a 10 year old son, so I can relate to the mess and the clear defiance, but until you brought that up at the end, how many of us are like them….yeah, we are….all of us, to an extent at the very least. It’s good to be reminded that kids are not the only ones who have rules to obey, someone to answer to.

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  10. This post brought back memories. My girls did not always follow the house rules and I kept reminding them to pick up their stuff which was dropped right at the door. One day I lost my temper and chucked everything out the door – coats, shoes, school books, etc – they went right into the snow and were my girls ever upset. The good thing is – they finally learned their lesson but it’s too bad it was the result of an angry action. Children need guidelines and boundaries so they will grow up to be responsible adults. We all need proper guidelines to follow and I agree that everything we need is right there in the Bible.

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  11. This post reminds me of a message I heard by Mark Driscoll. He mentioned his son doing the same thing. So one day he asked his son what was going on in his heart that would cause him not to obey. His young son apologized and said it was because he was selfish. Out of the mouth of babes…

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  12. Tapman said:

    I like the story and it could be a great learning tool – but the conclusion makes a terrible assertion:

    How many of us will be apologizing and saying “I meant to do that but didn’t have the time” when we meet Our Lord and he says to us “I never knew you”!

    Imagine a Mother turning to her kids and saying “I never knew you” and throwing her kids on the street because they didn’t follow the rules. There is a great lesson to be learned from this story but it is not this one. Rules have nothing to do with us being in a family – we are born into a family, we are born again into God’s family. If I break the rules I am still in the family…………..sorry the conclusion of the story made me feel terrible. Occasionally God may throw some shoes on the lawn but he will never throw us away.

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    • Exactly right. Our worth and belonging in the family is not contingent upon our following the rules, but in knowing that the Savior’s righteousness covers our sins. Then is that license to be willfully selfish and break rules on purpose? NO. But there is a fine balance, and God knows our hearts. Some who follow the rules perfectly will be the ones He “never knew.”

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  13. Greg said:

    I have to admit I don’t always get to these posts. But I’m glad I did this one as I really enjoyed it.

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  14. Sizi said:

    Since I’m a feline I don’t wear shoes however my folks try to patiently dry my feet. Sizi

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  15. I love this particular Dilbert cartoon…hysterical! And as for the ‘no shoes in the house policy’, I am the grown kid of a mom who still holds tight to that particular rule. I have to say that I still cringe when having to remove my feet warmers and traipse upon her hardwood floors in sock bedecked feet. I still long to buck her system and keep my shoes on.

    Oh how the sin nature runs deep within me…

    Romans 7:14-25!

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