Certain memories never leave us. Today, while trying to trim my toenails, I was suddenly transported back in time. I was at my dad’s bedside, where he lay waiting to take his last breath. I had been singing hymns he knew and used to sing at the nursing home and his congregation. He tried to sing in hushed tones. The sheet over him moved, exposing one foot. His toenails were yellowed from his almost 87 years of walking this earth. Feet that had traveled to Panama, Mexico, Ecuador, and most of the States were yellowed and scaly. I said, “Dad your toenails look like they could use a clipping.” He explained why it was hard for him to manage that task, and I went looking for a pair of clippers, a file, and some lotion.
After clipping and filing, we got him up in a chair, and I soaked his feet in Epson salt and warm water. Then I went swiftly to work scrubbing away dead skin. Afterward, he laid back in bed exhausted from the ordeal. I sat down at his bedside again and massaged his feet and legs. He said, “Oh, that feels so good.” Tears.
Suddenly, at this moment, as I type this message, I realize how insignificant it seems, because we humans do not know how to deal with those suffering around us. Those who just got the diagnosis, or the phone call in the night. Every time I saw my dad, he had shoes on or socks. I never thought to ask him about his feet.
Why don’t we do these care giving things when people are not on their deathbeds? Mainly because we don’t know what lies underneath the sheets–the shoes–the closed doors–the pain that stays bottled up inside.
Most of us have things hidden underneath sheets and shoes that need to be massaged, sanded, anointed, pruned, and moistened by His Spirit. Sometimes when these hidden things are exposed, we feel vulnerable–naked–like a failure or ashamed.
Yeshua washed feet. Repeat: The Messiah who came so we could have life-washed feet before He exited. A woman anointed His Head. A woman anointed His feet.
Luke 7:44, 45 ESV
Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.
The word in Hebrew for foot is regal, but there are three or four more words for feet. Our feet bring good news!!
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
~ Isaiah 52:7.
My dad often brought good news with his feet and did it joyfully. He cared for his wife, who had Parkinson’s, his family, those in nursing Homes, and those at his assembly. Our feet tell stories. We have ten fingers and ten toes— Ten Commandments or Ten Sayings.
“Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace!” Nahum 1:15.
Chaim Ben Torah explains more in his teaching concerning feet.
Regal is the word used when Ruth laid at Boaz’s feet or his marglah. Here, the foot gives a message of victory or power. When you see a cockroach run across the room, you will step on it with your pa’am. This is the foot that tramples down. When you step up to the podium to make an announcement, you are stepping up with your regal. Regal is spelled Resh, Gimmel Lamed. In its Semitic root, it is a picture of the power of God running to bring divine revelation. That is the word used here for feet. [1]
We can run after treasures that thieves steal, things that corrode, things moths destroy, or we can run like my dad to sing a song to shut ins, to build a church in a foreign land. To care for someone suffering.
If I were honest, sometimes, I don’t run to bring divine revelation. Sometimes my feet do not or cannot bring good news because they need washed, buffed, anointed with new oil. Sometimes, I run, bringing complaint and sorrow; other times, I step on cockroaches with my pa’am!
I remember one or two times when my feet had to run to a place at the front of the congregation. A place in Christianity often called the “altar ” and fall on my face. And I did not care who saw me. I did not care that black mascara was running down my cheeks–at that moment there was no one but me and HIM. And my Feet running.
In the past, these feet of mine have run to darkness, like the prodigal son running far away from home, but Praise the Holy One, I ran back, and He was waiting for me with a new robe, new shoes, and a new ring. If you need to make things right, you can do that right now no matter where you are. No building required, just feet ready to travel along with Jesus, Yeshua, the ANOINTED ONE.
Where have your feet been? May we kneel and tuck our feet underneath us, underneath the Messiah, bringing perfume lowly before the One who is King, and may it be a sweet smelling perfume.
[1] https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2014/02/word-study-feet-good-news/
Bonnie, this blog really touched me. Yesterday when a group of us were praying with Brenda one of the women quietly left and went and got a basin of water and came back and asked if she could wash Brenda‘s feet. It was a precious time of prayer and that just added to the depth of what was happening. Often very powerful
How lovely! Im so glad she has you all. You are doing a mighty work and one we are so appreciative of. We love Brenda and know she is in excellent care there!
Your articles never fail to captivate me. Each one is a testament to your expertise and dedication to your craft. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with the world.