Tie your own shoes

TO THIS DAY, I still have middle-schoolers walking around with their shoes untied!  Kids!  This is NOT a fashion statement, this is a HEALTH HAZARD!  You trip, then I have to take care of you!

Remember teaching your little ones to tie their shoes?  Some used the bunny ear technique.  In my house, we used the old-fashioned loop/knot design.  It all takes time and practice, but then, of course, my youngest ended up wearing flip-flops to high school in January, so why bother?

The point is that teaching self-sufficiency is a 

Spiritual diabetes

Let me just be clear about something—I hate exercise.  When I was in high school, I went on a Young Life overnight 50-mile bike hike, 25 miles each day.

Including hills. 

I remember the thought occurring to me that I could purposefully fall off the bike so that I could ride the rest of the way in the S.A.G. (Support And Gear) vehicle since I was certainly sagging, badly.

Certainly, it’s not the first nor the last time my innate lack of stamina has tried to forestall my resolution to physical fitness.  But as a nurse, there is a certain hypocrisy that tries to shadow its demon self if I, at the very least, don’t keep trying.  I preach it at my school, to my staff, to my