How often have you heard the term ‘big shoes to fill’? I’m sure it’s meant as an acknowledgement of the outgoing person but it can seem like a set of expectations on the person stepping into the role, expectations they are not likely to meet because they are a different person. Each person brings their own gifts and personalities to everything they do. Comparing to others, even unintentionally, is not helpful for anyone .
Why do I write this? Today someone sent me through something they had been working on. It was a poem and it was amazing. I know the person who did that job previously and they wouldn’t have been able to write a poem like that. But there were other things they could do, other things they brought to the role that the current role-holder doesn’t have. She had ‘big shoes to fill’ when she took the job and hasn’t even tried to fill them, instead she’s worn her own shoes. She brought what she had.
I have previously had a job where they were adamant they didn’t want another version of my predecessor but brought up the good work my predecessor had done a lot as comparison to how I was doing. Me and my predecessor were very different. They were married with young children, I was single. They were outgoing and extroverted, I was quieter and introverted. Neither of these is better, but they are different. I needed the space to be able to bring my strengths to the table instead of having to fill the shoes of my predecessor who had very different strengths to me.
In the bible, there’s a young shepherd boy called David. His older brothers are at war, and the enemy has a champion who calls out a challenge each day. David goes to deliver food to his brothers and hears the challenge. The champion calls out for a warrior to take him on, and if he wins his army will leave. He calls out some insults too. David doesn’t like it, sees it as an insults to his God, so goes to the king and says, “In the name of God, I will fight him.”
Now David was a shepherd boy, a teenager, while the enemy, Goliath, was huge. You can imagine the reaction to David! But David was adamant and King Saul realised he couldn’t stop him so decided to help another way. He gave David his armour for protection. The thing is, David wasn’t a full grown man and he certainly wasn’t a soldier. The armour was too big and too heavy – it wasn’t made for him. So instead he wore his normal clothes, picked 5 smooth pebbles from the river and faced Goliath with nothing but a sling. Goliath threw back his head and laughed, and as he did so he exposed a small hole where David could hit him beneath his helmet. It was only small, but that was all David needed. He threw one stone, just one, and killed the champion.
I wonder what would have happened if David had tried to be Saul, had tried to dress up as him and act like him. I suspect he wouldn’t have been victorious. But that young lad had the confidence to say, “no, that’s not me. I’m not going to try and fill your shoes, I fit mine just fine.” David went on to become king himself and is also called ‘the man after God’s own heart’. He knew who he was, who God had made him to be.
I wonder if you have ever felt compared to others either by the people around you or yourself. I wonder if you’ve been found wanting because you’re ‘not as good as them’.
You’re wrong. You are just as good as them, but you have different strengths. Don’t try to wear someone else’s shoes, you fit your own perfectly.
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