WASHING THE FEET OF OTHERS

MareBearHitstheRoad Blogger -Mayday 2010 - 16 days until I leave for NY and I get more excited by the day but at the same time, I am feeling the pangs of loss. Not loss of friendships and loved ones, but that I will not be here to just pop in and say hi and visit; or go to church and get THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY hugs you can imagine. Today, I want to talk about what "washing the feet of others" means and how we can practice this amazing gift everyday, with everyone, with just being in the details. As I have mentioned before, God is in the details and as such, I think He also wants us to be in the details too. He wants us all to love one another in extraordinary ways, under extraordinary circumstances, through extraordinary means.  


My calendar is so full over the next 16 days, I have no idea when I will have time to rest. So I have decided that I will rest in the knowledge that in my farewells, and words of love through my tributes to each person on Face book, that I will be in the details. Every kind word, every precious second, I will do my very best to share how my life has been altered because someone dared to step out and share their kindness, selflessness, generosity, compassion, friendship, love, forgiveness (LOTS OF THIS) and a million other special gifts each person has given to this unworthy soul.  


Jesus washed the feet of every life he encountered simply by sharing the message of Gospels of God's truth.  He literally washed the feet of the apostles.  In John 13:12-17 ²When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. ¹³"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. ¹⁵I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.


This particular passage has always filled me with great humility and serves as a reminder of what we are called to do daily for each other. It is not enough to simply be kind to people. When you can sit before them and wash their feet, literally or otherwise, you lessen your need to be in the forefront and increase your blessings a thousand fold.  When you sit at the feet of another, pouring water over them and gently tender to their needs, you become a heart that serves a greater purpose. We all struggle with humility, face it we are of sin, always will be of sin and cannot escape sin.  But, when we wash the feet of others, for unselfish reasons, the act itself just done to be done in love and kindness, we grow not only has human beings, but we grow in our intimacy with God. He wants us to sit at His feet, and learn, listen and grow, draw near...but in order to do that we MUST become less so He can become more.


But more often than not, our humanness stands in the way; life stands in the way, or pride or desires of the heart, body or mind...Stand in the way. So how do we wash the feet of others so that we can draw closer to each other, to GOD?  I don't share this often because it was not done to impress or draw attention to myself, but I once had the unique and especially blessed moment to literally wash the feet of men and women I did not know, in a country I had never been, between bars that caused bruising on both my arms, in a third world prison environment using basins I bought on the street near the prison. I was on a missions trip to Nicaragua and the ministry I felt strongly led to was prison ministry. I believed that because of the emotional prison I lived in my whole life, I could uniquely identify with men and women behind physical bars. Prison is prison, regardless of whether it is self imposed mentally or emotionally or if it's high walls of concrete and steal bars. What is important here is not so much that I did this act, but how it changed me. I have never been the same since. It taught me what true humility is, how being humble can bring a peace and joy that cannot be found in any other place. It brings a sense of understanding and a bonding with that person or persons that you can get in no other way.  It is the same feeling I get when I pray unceasingly for others.  


But we don't need to go to foreign countries, to third world prisons, to wash the feet of our family. When you give selflessly of your time, with no expectation of ANYTHING in return then you are washing the feet of your brethren. When you do something for another, without the hope of accolades or "getting credit" then you are washing the feet of your brethren. When you take 5 minutes out of a conversation with another, to truly listen to them, encourage them, lift them up, lessening yourself so that they may be first....then you are washing the feet of your brethren.


All of my friends on face book, in this world, over the course of a lifetime approaching 50, have at some point or another done this for me...so as I become sentimental and reflective these days, and I share small sweet stories of giving and love I have received from this person or that, I wash their feet - it is such a small thing to give for those who give so much...


If you have read this, look around you, look not just at how others wash your feet but how you wash their's and reflect on that quietly for just a few minutes to appreciate the greatest blessing of them all..the blessing of unconditional love.


Blessings,


marebear