I have had these shoes for a long time, and they have been to a lot of different places.  Honestly, I don't even remember all of the places that these shoes have been to, but over the six or so years that I've owned them, they are certainly well-loved and well-worn.  And even though I don't remember where they've been, my shoes bear the scars of the journey just as much as I do.  

Job's plea with his friends is that they might consider what it's like to walk a day in his shoes.  Until they've done so, it's very easy to suggest how he has messed up and what he needs to do differently.  From Job's perspective, though, he feels that everyone is against him: he can't turn to God because it seems as though God is inflicting all of this pain on him, and when he turns to his friends, they chastise him for his foolishness.

If I'm not careful, I think I can fall into the same trap as Job's friends.  I think I know what it's like to be someone else, and so I make suggestions that can come across as insensitive.  This is a reminder to me that I want to speak with grace.  After all, my heavenly Father who knows my situation more fully than I could ever know anybody else's always speaks to me with grace, too.