planting your feet

Grounded, secure, sturdy; all adjectives that can be used to describe a foundation. If you think about it, everything has a foundation, it all starts somewhere. Your house, your car, your pool, your bed; all of these have a sturdy beginning point, and are built onto. Similarly, our faith also has a foundation: the word of God.

When you plant your feet on the floorboards of your home, do you ever hear creaks? Have you ever had water damage to your floor? Are you ever scared that the entire floor is going to fall through? I was outside today, sitting in a chair beside my mom, when she promptly turned to me and stated that she was taking her shoes off to put her feet in the grass. I know- not the oddest statement ever, but it spurred something inside of me.

It is November, and because we live in the North, it gets COLD here, folks. I’m talking “pull out the parka and chop down the tree” cold. Personally, I am not ready for the gloomy winter days to hit, so if there is any excuse to get sun, then I take it! As I watched my mom take off her shoes and pause, without distraction to plant her feet in the grass, I realized how important it is to have a solid foundation to stand on. There are moments where I need a gentle nudge from God, a push in the right direction, and this was one of those moments.

Just like the grass, we weather the seasons as people- as children of God. We may not always know what is next, which is why it is so important to have a firm foundation: something, more specifically, someone who never changes and never moves. Every believer struggles with the creaks in the floor, the water damage, and the fear of the bottom dropping out underneath of them. These moments are what define our faith, they are what push us forward or limit us from growing. It is always a game of life or death in the realm of spirituality.

As these thoughts took my mind captive, I decided to take off my shoes and join my mom in her grass escapade. As my feet touched the ground, I felt connected to God in every fiber of my being. I think that sometimes we try so hard to un-complicate things that we overcomplicate them and end up running from issues that God never called us to handle in the first place.

If you were to take a step back from everything that is going on around you, if you were to truly ask yourself what makes you happy, and if you are fighting your own battles or if you are fighting other people’s battles, what would you conclude? Are you running this race with God for yourself, or are you tripping over your feet because you are trying to fight in someone else’s race?

Here are a few passages of scripture that I think are helpful.

Proverbs 1

my son, do not go along with them,

do not set foot on their paths;

16 for their feet rush into evil,

they are swift to shed blood.

Matthew 7:24-27

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

God has already provided us with a firm foundation, one that does not creak or have a chance of every falling through. God doesn’t fall through, he follows through. I challenge you to remember that this week as you face the challenges of the world. Plant your feet in the grace, go back to life with simple faith instead of complicated faith. We are all children of God.

Authentically,

Ali