Outside

Monday morning. Back to work after a holiday weekend.

While walking my dog, the first thing I noticed was a pair of shoes sitting beside a fire hydrant.

I  wondered : Why are they here?

At one point, those shoes were brand new. Someone wanted them. They tried them on, carried them home, maybe even wore them to a party, a first date, or a new job. Maybe they were the perfect fit. Maybe they never were.

I don’t know the story.

My mind fills in the blanks because every discarded object once mattered to someone.

Now they’re just sitting beside a fire hydrant.

It made me think about the things we buy. So often we’re convinced the next purchase will make us happier. For a while, it does. Then the excitement fades. Eventually, it becomes just another object we no longer think about.

But our hopes, dreams, and goals shouldn’t follow that same path.

Don’t let your biggest aspirations become like those abandoned shoes—something that once filled you with excitement but now sits forgotten on the side of the road.

Take a look at where your dreams are today.

Are you still pursuing them?

Or have you left them outside next to a fire hydrant?

What’s one dream you set down somewhere along the way—and what would it take to pick it back up?