Help

Be where your feet are. 

My Pastor has just completed a very inspiring sermon series to begin our 2024, and several times during his messages shared this really compelling phrase: Be where your feet are.

It has been a phrase I have found myself contemplating the meaning over and over for myself. Where am I staring over my shoulder behind me, and where am I gazing off distantly into the future? Years ago, my family went on snow ski trips annually. One thing I discovered quickly (and not without a few experiences to remind me) is that I could not ski and look behind me over my shoulder, and I also could not gaze too far ahead the path or I would miss necessary situations in front of me. Looking too far ahead or behind me, created disturbances in my present experiences. 

It’s hard, isn’t it? When our past imprints on our brain to be hyper-vigilant and when our need for control can’t seem to focus anywhere but on the future. But a wise woman once said to me, “You know, control really is an illusion.” 

Be where your feet are.

So true, my past is there, it exists. But I am not my past, and that is not where I exist. My future is yet to be unseen, and I could never control what that will be. What I can do, is take the next step in front of me. Do the next right thing. Be fully present, embracing all the pieces of life surrounding me now.

But, it is so scary at times. Maybe the thing that is scary is the responsibility that comes with living where my feet are. Maybe we would rather focus on what we can’t control, than courageously face what we can?

This is where help comes in. I know I can’t do this on my own. That’s the scary part. But God has recently reminded me again, He is my helper. Help doesn’t mean He takes over control of me, or that He magically makes everything feel just right. 

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

 He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber.”

Psalm 121:1-3b

The word help here in the original language (Hebrew) means a strong presence, an aid without which humankind would be unprotected and vulnerable to all sorts of unsettling situations. It reminds me that as I walk out my path, focused on each little step in front of me, He is there. He is my help. He does not leave me alone or unprotected, and I don’t have to fear. Even of my own blunders. Even of other people’s blunders.

He is greater. 

Trust Him with those feet.