Sock Monsters

I was doing a bit of cleaning yesterday and happened upon something startling in my sock box. First, I guess that I should explain about the box. It looks like this and contains the one sock that's missing from the pair. As I pull single socks out of the laundry, I put them in the box until the mate appears.

I don't know about you, but for some reason my house is filled with lonely socks. Believe me....they're lurking somewhere. Maybe it's under a bed, attached to another piece of clothing or balled up and covered with mulch, but it will reappear. It will frustrate me even more if I've thrown the mate away, so I've learned to keep them in my box. 

     And I will not be defeated. Ok, now I just sound crazy, but who cares. 

One more thing...

I believe in Jesus and I believe there's a Sock Monster who eats just one tasty sock for the sheer delight of irritating me. 

So yesterday, I was extremely irritated because my sock collection is getting bigger and bigger. No one's even wearing socks right now! We're either barefoot or in flip flops, so how in the heck can they be piling up? 

It's then I realize....they're not ours. As I was looking through the pile (there's way more than could fit in a picture) it occurred to me that these are a lot like the issues we face as humans.

Sometimes we can put on other people's problems and habits and claim them as our own. We don't even realize we're doing it and then one day, BAM! We've got problems that don't truly belong to us and struggle to sort them out.

I'm sorry for the mothers (only God knows how many) who may be waiting for these socks to show up somewhere. 

         I threw them out! 

        Tossed them in the trash just like I did mentally when I quit smoking (my father's bad habit) and dropping the F-bomb (the good ole' teenager in me).

Are there any "socks" in your life that need to be tossed out?