Funny Feet and Tired Toes
One of the highlights of my kindergartener’s week is meeting the LETTER PEOPLE. These ingenious little alphabet personalities have been around for decades. Each week an inflatable character in the shape of a letter shows up to teach pre-readers the appropriate sound and shape of that particular consonant or vowel. WHile much has changed in education since I went to kingergarten, this timeless teaching tool remains the same. In fact, I still remember wandering the halls of my elementary school (the same hallways my girls wander now) in search of Miss A, who, as phonic-sense would have it, was hiding in the ART room. Today, Hannah went to school with FUNNY FEET in honor of her new pal Mr. F. She was ready to “wow” her friends at carpet time with the bike horn tied to the pink poodle slipper which was accented by the striped teddy bear toe socks. As Hannah left the house, I found myself thinking about another day we pondered the idea of feet.
A few summers ago, as the kids and I were hiking along the lake, we stumbled upon some muddy tracks that ran benath ours.
“Who do you suppose left these footprints?” I asked the kids.
“Probably a wild animal looking for a little girl to eat,” Lizzy ventured as she grinned at her little sister.
“No,” Hannah retorted. “Those are God’s footprints.”
“God’s footprints would be HUGER than that!” Lizzy argued. Hannah refuted with three-year-old persuasion. Liz countered with seven-year-old rational; then big brother joined the discussion.
“God’s footprints aren’t always big,” Luke suggested with nine-year-old authority. “He walks around your heart, too, ya know.” While the footprint debate was never resolved, it sparked a question of my own. Does God leave footprints across our days like the imprints in the mud? If so, what could happen if we began to recognize his tracks?
Since then, I have often prayed that God would, indeed, open my eyes to see his feet as they roam through my world. I have no doubt that my Savior stands beside me at all times, but sometimes I just wish His feet were a bit more like Mr. F’s. Surely, if Jesus danced into my day with striped, happy, honking feet, I would pause and take note. And perhaps if I did, even the mounds of laundry, and dishes, the diapers would look a bit more holy.
Today’s Treasure: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Isaiah 52:7
If yesterday was funny feet Wednesday, then today was fatigued feet Thursday. I wish every day were a striped-sock singing, bike-horn honking, slippered-toed dancing kind of day; but now and then I wake with ten tired toes and a body and mind to match. That’s how I felt today when I hauled myself out of bed at 5AM to the sound of a crying baby and pattering rain. But as I soaked in God’s word with little Miss Maggie crawling at my feet, I let Isaiah 40:31 marinate in my mind- But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not grow faint. And I realized then that today was going to be a “walking” sort of day.
I had no exciting agenda through which I could run, no tantalizing challenge enticing me to soar, just the moment-by-moment demands of a teething baby, a tractor-toting toddler, and three school kids needing chauffer service, homework help and encouragment at the end of the day. The only mountain I would scale today would be the dirt-streaked, sweaty-smelling peak of Mount Laundry. And the only running going on in my house on this rainy Thursday would be that of my overstuffed dishwasher as it struggled to keep pace with my end of the week cooking spree. To be honest, I’d rather soar. I love the adrenaline rush of a challenge that engages my heart and mind and soul. I love variety and change and a bit of recognition now and then. But lately I’m learning that for me one of the greatest challenges I face is WALKING WITH GRACE through the ordinary moments of my days. It’s maintaining fresh hope and joy in the face of “the same old thing.” In C.S. Lewis’s powerful book the Screwtape Letters, a senior devil is training a junior devil in the details of defeating those who seek to follow God. In one letter, the senior devil tells the junior imp, “Work on their horror of the Same Old Thing. The horror of the same old thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart.”
So that is why today I asked the Lord to annoint my tired toes and grant me a persevering spirit as I scaled the mountain of laundry, seeked to bring comfort to my fussy baby, and welcomed onto my lap a two-year-old toting the same John Deere Tractor book I read dozens of times yesterday. Today, I wanted to take the wise words of Oswald chambers to heart and walk without fainting. Because perhaps if I do, one day my own children will learn to soar!
A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountain-top experience after another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but it is a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting -Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Today’s Treasure: The Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you; to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
