Barefoot on Cobblestones

Yesterday I participated in the TOMS movement. (I just found this video that the Today Show posted on TOMS if you would like to watch it as well.) I didn't wear shoes to raise awareness that many go shoe-less everyday, which causes all kinds of problems. I'm not saying going barefoot was easy, because if it was I would be handing out breakfast tacos with some friends and not be sitting on my couch right now. It's difficult for me to walk this morning as the soles of my feet are worn out and bruised to say the least. It's a sacrifice for the statement I made yesterday.

Early in the morning, I was thinking about everything the day would entail - walking to class, doing interviews for the yearbook, the pain of the cobblestones underneath my feet that line parts of campus and many more scenarios.

I never would have expected that around 9 in the morning, my feet would almost meet an enemy tangled in the grasses if it wasn't that I decided to wear shoes for part of my photoshoot with Jeremiah and Stephanie. We went out along the edges of a nearby highway that was covered with wildflowers in an array of splendid colors. I thought about grabbing my sandals and I thought about going barefoot for the shoot. For some reason in that moment of contemplation next to my car, I grabbed my sandals out slipping them on my feet as I began the ascent over a hill.

The flowers were beautiful, but amongst them was a deadly feet killer that is also known as blackberry bushes. The blackberry bushes are covered with prickly things that don't care whether you get hurt by stepping on them or not. I can't imagine going barefoot on top of those. As I walked past some, they jarred at my legs leaving my legs stinging for hours after the initial contact. Just think of if that had been my feet! Praise God for that split decision to grab sandals for the shoot. However, some don't have that luxury. They step on things that make them uncomfortable all the time. What I saw from that though is the Lord's protection down to finite details that we so often overlook like shoes. If I hadn't listened to Him prompting me to put them on, I would have walked right into the pain of blackberry bushes. So often I am disobedient and go headfirst into sin because I don't listen to Him.

At one point in the day, I checked out the soles of my feet and noticed there was a rock lodged in there that I simply didn't feel, but I knew that it had to have been affecting me even if I remained oblivious to it's place in my life. I feel like a lot of times that happens with sin. It'll be in our life, but we'll be so focused on something else, we won't even see it sneak up on us. We can slowly see that there is a rock in our souls that we need to take care of, something that we didn't see, overlooked or simply avoided.

I took the rock out of my sole, but what rock in my soul did I miss yesterday? Today? Tomorrow?