DERELICT SHOES

“Derelict” isn’t a word that is only used 
     to describe buildings;
          it can also be something that is 
               abandoned, discarded, 
                    forsaken, neglected or ruined.
Over three months ago we saw
     these shoes that would fit a child
          of perhaps two years old,
               tied to a fencepost.
We went back to the same spot today
     and they were still there,
          so we wondered - 
have they been abandoned or discarded
     or did they fall off someone’s pushchair
          or out of a rucksack
               and were simply lost?
Whatever happened to them,
     after all this time, 
          the truth is that they are now
               forsaken and ruined.
Sometimes we can feel like these shoes,
     and it was for this reason that
          the Christ-child was born
               two thousand years ago - 
and then many years later 
     endured the agony of
          death on a cross,
               abandoned, and forsaken.
But for us who believe,
     that was NOT the end of the story,
          come back again at Easter
               to hear more Good News!

© Maureen Iles : 23/12/18

Happy Christmas to everyone reading this - may you be truly blessed as you celebrate the birth of Christ - my extra shows our Advent wreath with the four candles lit, and the cross in the background.

P.S.  Thank you to everyone who commented on my Silly Saturday photograph, we had an unexpected visitor in the afternoon and then had to go out in the evening, so I apologise for not responding.