Keep a towel on my arm!
Keep me ready to kneel
before my tired friend
to lovingly rinse the dirt glued on
as they kept trudging
through thick and thin,
the rut and puddle,
the stuff that sticks
from where they’ve been,
a long and painful road.
Give my eyes the knack to catch
weariness, hurt within
a gesture or a sigh.
Give me kindness that
moves my fingers, strength
to knead tight tendons loose,
massage sore soles,
de-tense cramped muscles
always leaping up,
sweeping up the dust.
Make me Just like You --
You, who gently bathes
my own tired feet
in balm of Gilead!
You wipe dust away,
cleansing pores
now clogged with grime.
Show me now who needs
their dry feet bathed, who
longs for comfort and relief!
We are in northern Côte d’Ivoire in the dry season, when months pass with no rainfall. The harmattan wind blows down from the Sahara over West Africa, picking up fine dust and sand particles as it goes. A dusty haze covers the landscape and muffles the brightness of the rising sun. Dust drops onto everything: leaves look brown, furniture needs constant dusting.
So during this season dirty feet are the norm, unless you are wearing socks and closed shoes—then those get covered with dust. Of course we want to leave shoes at the door rather than take that extra dust into the house! Washing shoes, at least dusting them off, becomes routine. If you’re wearing sandals then your feet change color, your skin color only showing through where a strap was tightly wrapped around them.
We wash our own feet, and it feels SO good to get them clean. Experiencing this dusty world makes the examples of foot-washing in the Bible very real. Throughout the Old Testament it is part of welcoming visitors (see Genesis 18,19,24,43). Water was supplied for visitors to use to wash their feet. and omitting that showed a lack of hospitality (1 Sam. 25:41; Luke 7:40–50; 1 Tim. 5:10). If servants were present they got the job. Wives were to wash their husband’s feet. It was a demonstration of care and humility.
When Jesus washed his disciples feet (John 13:1-13) he definitely shocked them. He was showing them that he loved them deeply (verses 1-2) as well as giving them an object lesson they would never forget:
2 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His robe, He reclined 1 again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord. This is well said, for I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.1 15 For I have given you an example 1 that you also should do just as I have done for you. 16 ” I assure you: A slave is not greater than his master,12 and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. (Jn. 13:1-13 CSB)
Jesus was the Master who was sending his disciples out. What they had not realized was that they were to have the same kind of compassionate heart that their Master had. When they saw someone with “dirty feet” who needed help getting water and cleaning them up, they were never to consider themselves too highly place to bend down and do the work of a servant. They were to be messengers who were ready to serve.
How many times have I not noticed a way that I could serve someone who just walked through some tough stuff and needs relief? The “foot washing” might be actually physical, like offering a shower and a bed to someone on a long trip. It might also be offering a listening ear to someone overloaded with inner stress or distress, “dust” accumulated by compassion fatigue, carrying heavy loads for others. Maybe they just need a safe space where they can rest.
When I’m busy with my own business, it’s easy to overlook the opportunity to offer that attention. Didn’t Jesus say that just a cup of water might be enough?
And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.” (Matt. 10:42 NLT)
I was reminded of that this month when a young woman named Tene (ten-eh) came over to show me her newborn baby, and asked how to spell my name “Linn” since she wanted to give it to her daughter. I had known Tene’s mom for a very long time, helping her through many tough situations. But Tene I had mostly known as the little girl who would stop by my house in Ferke town on her way home from school. She and her girlfriends just wanted a drink of water after the long day, in the middle of the long walk home. And now she wanted to name her baby after me.
I was humbled at this thought. I know I could have done more to show her love. But that cup of water had been enough. She remembered. On Sunday we were at her parents’ courtyard to celebrate their wedding anniversary—13 years together, through thick and thin and lots of poverty, always pushing forward. (They had wanted to do this for their 10th anniversary, but that was during COVID.) Many people had said, when they married, that they would never make it, being just too poor. But they had, and they thanked God. I grabbed little baby Linn and held her for a while. I pray that she will grow to faithfully follow Jesus the way that her grandparents have, and that Tene will as well.
And I pray that I will grow ever more aware of how to reach out in a meaningful way to serve those that the Lord brings my way. “Foot washing” is an image for all kinds of service. The main requirement is to do it in love and with humility.
Linnea's Lines 