a sign only has significance while it points to something else. a symbol in and of itself has lost its true purpose if it doesn’t point to something greater.
as we humans are prone to do, i realized recently that my ideas about barefootedness had become legalistic; almost to the point of pharisitical law. i noticed this was happening at breakfast brigade one morning. the issue with my feet and brigade is that at the gainesville catholic worker house, i’m required to wear shoes while preparing food in the kitchen. i do believe that florida law enstates that policy and i’m totally fine with following that law. as silly as it may (or may not) be, i would never let my barefootedness get in the way of serving the kingdom. however, i am free to be barefoot in the rest of the house. so i would normally just place a pair of sandals on the threshold between the kitchen and the rest of the house and i would put them on when i entered the kitchen and kick them off when i exited it.
well one morning i donned and removed my shoes somewhere around fifteen times. i was journaling later that day when i realized what was going on: i was being completely and utterly ridiculous.
so i have decided to stop… being ridiculous that is.
i have purchased a pair of black tom’s and i carry them with me in my backpack. they squish down quite nicely and actually come in this convenient little bag which is perfect for one of my backpack’s side pockets.
the whole point of me being barefoot was 1) to remind me to not get caught up in my materialism and possessions and 2) to acknowledge the fact that i have an opportunity to commune with and serve God anywhere and everything my feet carry me. a wonderful side effect of being barefoot is that it’s an awesome conversation starter and makes it quite easy to share my testimony without being “initiatively evangelistic” because someone else is actually the one who expresses the interest. in my mind, that is one of the most effective ways to spread the gospel; living a life that is so drastically different from the rest of the world that people practically have to ask you what’s going on.
and the good thing about all of this is that now, even while i wear my tom’s, i’m becoming increasingly conscious of the fact that i have constant access to God. and that’s what this was about to begin with, right?