Talk to Your Feet

My grandpa is one of my most favorite people on earth. He’s the most positive, faith-filled, generous, encouraging person I know. One time, I was driving him around town, helping him with his errands, when we pulled up to the bank window. He starts encouraging the young bank teller—making sure she’s having a good day and telling her that she “didn’t need to worry about anything, it was all gonna be ok and work out just fine.” She just needed to “trust the Lord”, is what he told her. This is his advice to everyone.

He’s always making sure everybody has enough “green paper” (aka money). He’ll say, “Kristen, you got everything you need?” “Yes, Pawpaw, I’m good.” “Now, don’t you be sittin’ at home mopin’ around sayin’ you don’t have what you need. If you need some green paper we got some.” I wish I could do my best Pawpaw voice for you.

You can often hear him singing some “do do de do” song in the other room as he’s rolling around in his office chair doing this or that. That’s who he is, just doing life with the Lord. Always correcting us if we ever say anything about him being by himself. “I’m not by myself, the Lord is with me.” I could keep going with story after story.

There’s one thing he does constantly that I’ve been thinking about so much lately. He has neuropathy in his feet, meaning he can’t feel them when he walks. So he does this really genius thing.

He talks to his feet.

*Now, since I can’t do an impression for you right here and now, nor can I write all the words in the way he actually pronounces them, you’re just gonna have to use your imagination. You gotta read this next part with the best southern Pawpaw voice you can come up with.

Ready? Here we go.

”Come on feet. We ain’t gonna get in no hurry. Just take it nice and slow. We’re just gonna go right over there and we’re not gonna end up on the floor. Uh hmmm, there we go. Just take it easy now. There’s no reason to go fast.”

It is the best thing you’ve ever seen or heard. He even does it when he’s by himself. Getting out of bed, you can hear him in there, just talking to his feet.

The genius behind it is the fact that when his feet can’t feel and understand what his brain is signaling for them to do, talking to them somehow makes it known to them.

Don’t ask me to explain all the sciencey stuff, it just makes sense in my head. All I know is, it works.

This past week has been one of the craziest weeks I’ve had in a really long time. As soon as my feet would hit the floor every morning it was like someone was pushing a “go” button and the day took off. There were several moments when I was literally running… running through my house. And my house is tiny! I was staying up late working and getting up early going. I was exhausted. My schedule is pretty tedious. I have three jobs I do weekly and they have to work together just right to make sense. For some reason last week, they felt like they were stepping on each another. And on top of that, all the extra things I do during the week felt like they were being bullied around with the other random things that just kept coming up. It was honestly just a mess.

At one point in the car I said out loud to the Lord, “Lord, I feel like this week I’ve sacrificed everything that is important to me for all the things that have seemed urgent.”

What’s important to me? Slow mornings. Journaling to the Lord. Reading (both the Word and other books). Sitting in my swing talking to the Lord and watching what He’s doing in the current season. Rest and making sure I get enough sleep. Cooking really good, nutritious food. Working out and going on walks. Spending quality time with the people the Lord has graciously placed in my life right now. Listening well. Being a good friend. Doing things well and enjoying them. Working hard but not rushing it.

I love to drink hot tea at times. Sometimes, depending on the brand and the tea, there’s what I like to call “tea wisdom” on the little paper that’s connected to the string that holds the tea bag. Sometimes it says something stupid like “if you want the rose, you must endure the thorn.” Ha! Dramatic much? But a couple of times I’ve gotten this one that says “Nature is never in a hurry, yet everything gets accomplished.” -Lao Tzu

It makes me think of Jesus when He was on His way to heal the 12 year old girl who was minutes away from dying. The woman with the issue of blood reached through the crowd and touched His robe to be healed. It says He felt the power leave Him, so He could’ve just kept going, because it was literally a life or death situation He was headed to. The woman’s need was met… was there really a reason for Him to stop? However, He did stop. Why? Because Jesus isn’t just concerned with meeting our issues and needs. He wants to encounter us and for us to encounter Him. He knows that the greatest gift He can give us is Himself. Which is why He died for us. Yea? So we could be with Him! So with this woman He stops, He talks to her, encourages her, He doesn’t rush off, He takes time to see her, and gives her time to see Him. And the little 12 year old girl dies? No, she is “just asleep” He says. So He wakes her up (i.e. raises her from the dead). There was time for all of it. Everything got accomplished.

Last year, I read a book called “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer. I had heard about it for years and it most definitely lived up to the hype. Then I read another John Mark Comer book called “Practicing the Way”. It was a deeper dive into the Spiritual Disciplines. Which then led my Dgroup and I to reading “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster and then is when I finally started to understand a few things differently. (Sometimes it takes a minute for me to pick up what seems like the Lord is literally throwing at me.) All three of these books played a part in unraveling my understanding on what I thought the Spiritual Disciplines were.

There is an old Hebrew practice that Kristi McLelland talks about often that says, “We make space for the Lord to come and fill.” It comes from Psalm 81:10 which says: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” *There’s one of those I will statements again that we talked about last week.

Spiritual Disciplines are ways we make space for the Lord to come and fill.

So you mean to tell me this isn’t a list for me check off to show I’m being a good Christian? Nor is it my way to getting God’s attention so that He hears my prayers better?

Nope, and isn’t this such good news!?!

Richard Foster puts it like this:

“Picture a long, narrow ridge with a sheer drop-off on either side. The chasm to the right is the way of moral bankruptcy through human strivings for righteousness. Historically, this has been called the heresy of moralism. The chasm to the left is moral bankruptcy through the absence of human strivings. This has been called the heresy of antinomianism. On the ridge there is a path, the Disciplines of the spiritual life. This path leads to inner transformation and healing for which we seek. We must never veer off to the right or the left, but stay on the path. The path is fraught with severe difficulties, but also with incredible joys. As we travel on this path, the blessing of God will come upon us and reconstruct us into the image of Jesus Christ. We must always remember that the path does not produce the change; it only places us where the change can occur. This is the path of disciplined grace.” (Emphasis added.)

There are so many books out there on the Spiritual Disciplines and I’m sure they are all really incredible. I’ve only read a few of them, but it’s funny to me that they all have different ones. Some are the same and most obvious to us, like prayer and Bible reading. But some have what others don’t. For example, have you ever thought of celebrating as a Spiritual Discipline? Richard Foster says it is. Personally as someone who loves to celebrate certain “God dates” I have that no one cares about, I can confidently say, God comes and fills those moments I’m celebrating.

Marty Solomon from the BEMA podcast says that a Spiritual Discipline can be anything we do to make space for the Lord to come and encounter us.

For me, those important things I listed earlier are the rhythms I like to do to make space for the Lord come and fill. They are practices that seem to always center my eyes and thoughts on Him so I can confidently go throughout my day knowing that He is with me and I’m in tune with His voice.

If I’m not careful and intentional, I can have weeks like I had last week—when it was as if I was couldn’t feel my feet and they had a mind of their own.

Sometimes, I think we have to talk to our feet to tell them where to go and how to get there. When the world, culture and people are yelling at us telling us to go faster, we have to tell our feet to go slower so we can encounter the God who doesn’t do anything in a hurry. The God that I personally want to stay in step with. When they tell us to hustle harder, we have to tell our feet to stay on the path and not fall off into the chasm of moral bankruptcy of human strivings for righteousness. He’s our righteousness. He transforms us into being who He meant for us to be. When they tell us to grind it out, we have to tell our feet to stop and look around us to see the people that are getting overlooked. We have to make space in our lives for the Lord to come and fill.

It’s hard and it takes faith actually. This picture on this post is one I took at the sea of Galilee. There were so many evenings and very early mornings I would go out and sit with God. I would put my feet in the water and just stare at it in wonder thinking about how these are the waters Jesus walked on. They still remember His feet. And then I would think about the faith of Peter saying “if it is really you Lord, tell me to come out there.” Jesus told him to come. And Peter walked on these waters. Because of His faith. Because he trusted and gave the Lord space to come and fill. It turned out that the Lord filled it with the miraculous and Peter’s feet experienced the impossible.

So here is your encouragement for the week. Let me bring it all together for you.

Some of us, (hint, hint me) need to practice talking to our feet. We need to tell our feet to slow down and make space for the Lord to come and fill. Some of us may even have idle feet that are propped up on the couch scrolling or watching TV too much and they need to get moving and go on a walk with the Lord or something instead.

Making space for the Lord to come and fill isn’t always doing nothing. I hope that this is clear. It may be slower but it’s intentional. Sometimes it’s practicing His presence (acknowledging He is with you) while washing the dishes or cleaning the bathroom. It could be having coffee with a friend and again acknowledging He is there and asking Him to speak a word of encouragement through you or playing a game with your kiddos and noticing His delight for them and letting it wash over you with new joy. Maybe it’s stillness. Maybe He wants you to sit on your porch and just watch as He slowly changes the seasons. All the while, speaking to your heart about the things He’s changing in you. Maybe it is simply doing one thing at a time.

Regardless of what it is, I pray He meets you where you are this week. And I pray He gives you the words to talk to your feet.