Beautiful Feet

I had a fascinating encounter with a shoe salesman on Saturday in Carmel. He was as effective a shoe salesman as I've ever encountered. Solicitous, opinionated, but not too opinionated, complimentary, persistent and helpful. When I showed an interest in a very high end pair of German-made sandals, he insisted that I try them on so he could see how they looked on me. The minute I stripped off my sock, he complimented my bare foot:

"You have a very aristocratic foot," he said. "I know you must be very intelligent."

Now, what exactly that phrase, "aristocratic feet" means, I have no idea. Nor do I know how my foot indicates my intelligence level. I am blessed with feet that are well proportioned, have toes that all point the right direction, arches that work, and yes, my feet look nice in sandals. As to whether my feet are particularly well-read, understand quantum physics or can intuitively solve difficult interpersonal problems, I am not sure. I haven't asked them....

But it got me to thinking about the Bible's description of beautiful feet in Isaiah 52:7:

"How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings
good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
'Your God reigns!'"
(New King James Version)

So maybe those aristocratic feet of mine are noble because they carry me to places where I can share God's love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, peace and joy with other people.

When I was a little girl, we had a leader at our church camp who had worked in Africa with children who walked barefoot all the time. To these children, a sign of real wealth was to own a pair of shoes. We used to sing a camp song that said,

"I will wear a crown
In my Father's house"

This leader suggested we sing:

"I will put on shoes
In my Father's house"

His students at his mission station had sung that, and it seemed like a good idea for us to sing it too, while we wore our tennies to hike and play at beautiful Camp Wawona in Yosemite National Park.

So, hooray for "aristocratic feet". May they do my King's business!

--Posted by Mama O.