A Red Boot Hissy Fit

Isn’t it funny how little bits and pieces of life can come together in some strange way?

That happened to me. The first piece was a pair of red boots. My daughter called and told me she had found a pair of red boots for me. I can’t really say I was as excited about the red boots as was she, but I tried to keep an open mind. The next time we were together she brought out the red boots and I will have to say, “I loved the red boots!” I immediately began to put together a knock out Christmas outfit. A red sweater, black pants, a white wooly sleeveless vest, a red curly scarf and then those red boots.

The second piece was the hissy fit. I really don’t know how many people have ever even heard the phrase hissy fit but I have and it makes me smile. When I was growing up, me or one of my brothers (usually a brother) would get upset about something and that would bring on the hissy fit. My dad would become impatient (to put it nicely) with us and tell us in no uncertain terms that the hissy fit was to come to an end.

My dad passed away several years ago but his memory lives within me. I was out shopping one day and I saw a calendar and there dedicated to the month of June “Never underestimate the power of a hissy fit!” Needless to say, I had to have the calendar. So now I had the red boots and the hissy fit calendar.

The third piece would come on Black Friday. Black Friday is probably one of my favorite days of the years. I am sure you are shaking your head right about now and thinking that I am “No Ordinary” and you would be quite right. Anyway, on Black Friday my daughter and I get up in the middle of the night and head out to find Christmas treasures that will bring squeals of delight on Christmas morning. We shop, eat, shop, get a snack, shop, eat, shop… well you get the point. There is a lot of shopping and a lot of eating. On this particular Black Friday I had my red boots. I wasn’t actually wearing my red boots. It is never a wise idea to wear new shoes on an all day shopping extravaganza. I say that from experience. But I had them with me to wear to lunch. We were trolling up and down the parking lot aisles looking for that elusive parking spot when we both spotted it. Eureka! Then coming from the other way, we saw a car turn down our aisle look at our spot and turn on their blinker – that was when the words came tumbling out of my mouth. “They better not think about taking that spot or I just might pitch a red boot hissy fit!” My daughter and I have never laughed so hard. I am a pretty laid back, even keeled, not quite five-feet, grandmother (not actually the red boot hissy fit type).

Now every time I put on my red boots I think of my Dad and Black Friday and I smile. I know that getting a parking spot on Black Friday is a big deal but probably does not warrant a hissy fit. As a Christ follower, I think I have become too mellow, too even keeled, too vanilla. I think it is probably time for me to put on my red boots and pitch a hissy fit. Some things not only warrant it, but also demand it.

I wonder what the world would be like if more Christ-followers put on their red boots and pitched a hissy fit about the things that make Jesus cry. Things like children dying of starvation, whole villages with no clean water, or women with no rights. My 38-year-old sister finished her fight with ovarian cancer December 11, 2009. I think that is a cause worth a red boot hissy fit. And how much more should we be moved by the fact that thousands will go into eternity today without Jesus. What about you? What would cause you to buy red boots and pitch a fit? Let me know and I will write your name in my heart and smile knowing the world is never going to be the same.