I was at the shoe repair shop last Saturday afternoon because my ten year old pair of black Cole Haan lace-up boots had died a rather ignoble death due to drowning. An unfortunate pause in a deep puddle had caused the top of one boot near the ball of my foot to pull away from the sole, leaving a yawning gap where plenty of sock showed.

Truth told, the shoe shop wasn’t my initial attempt at repair; I stopped first at my kitchen junk drawer to see what kind of glue might solve the problem without “professional” intervention. (For the record, Elmers’ wood glue did not.)

The nice, bespectacled man on the other side of the shop counter eyed my boots and asked me two questions: first, what kind of glue had I used to try to fix the problem myself…and then, without acknowledging the idiocy of trying to repair a leather boot with wood glue, whether the next day after 2 p.m. would be alright for pick up.

Evidently my boots were salvageable – in spite of my fears that my self-repair had utterly ruined them.

As I left, he asked another question, almost an afterthought: “Repaired and polished?” he asked. That sounded good to me. I nodded yes.

The next afternoon I returned and presented my ticket. The same man of few words disappeared behind some shelves and returned with what looked like my old boots, reborn. Soles attached. Repaired and polished to a shine so new I could almost see myself in the toes. The $18 he asked for in return seemed ridiculously low.

As I paid, I noticed that someone had left in front of me a pair of work boots so scarred and beat up I wondered why their owner didn’t just start over. But hard wear was the least of the issues at hand. The entire sole of one work boot was peeled back like the lid of a sardine can, and worn duct tape flapped out from both sides. (Note to self: duct tape might be a temporary fix, but its shoe-repairing efficacy is ultimately no better than wood glue.)

If I hadn’t witnessed my own shoe-resurrection, I might have thought these work boots were beyond saving. But my own pair, repaired and polished, made me reconsider.

And I left thankful that beyond any life’s wear and tear and futile self-repair, there’s this: “Therefore if any man is in Christ he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (II Cor. 5:17)

© Leigh McLeroy 2004