Take Off Your Shoes…
“Your bare feet walk the earth reverently
for everything keeps crying,
Take off your shoes
The ground you stand on is holy
The ground of your being is holy.”
–Macrina Wiederkehr, First Stanza of Holy Ground
We may not be able to stop the suffering unfolding in our world, but we can expand our ability to offer compassion, kindness, and support by strengthening our sense of reverence.
As we bow often in honor of the divine blessings all around us, we refill our body, mind, and spirit with soul food. At least that is the sense I had when reading Macrina Wiederkehr’s poem Holy Ground (see below) this morning. I felt myself relaxing into it and shedding worries and concerns.
Whether the call to “take off your shoes” speaks to your weary need to rest, serves as an invitation to be present to the healing energy of the ground beneath your feet, or delivers a reminder of the Holy One’s gifts, there is so much to be found in the simple act of taking off your shoes with awareness.
May you heed the call to take off your shoes in whatever way is right for you. And may you receive the blessing of wonder at all the Holy One has given you this day.
Holy Ground
by Macrina Wiederkehr
My bare feet walk the earth reverently
For everything keeps crying,
Take off your shoes
The ground you stand on is holy
The ground of your being is holy.
When the wind sings through the pines
Like a breath of God
awakening you to the sacred present
calling your soul to new insights
Take off your shoes!
When the sun rises above your rooftop
Coloring your world with dawn
Be receptive to this awesome beauty
Put on your garment of adoration
Take off your shoes!
When the Red Maple drops its last leaf of summer
wearing its “burning bush” robes no longer
read between its barren branches, and
Take off your shoes!
When sorrow presses close to your heart
begging you to put your trust in God alone
filling you with a quiet knowing
that God’s hand is not too short to heal you
Take off your shoes!
When a new person comes into your life
like a mystery about to unfold
and you find yourself marveling over
the frailty and splendor of every human being
Take off your shoes!
When, during the wee hours of the night
You drive slowly into the new day
And the morning’s fog, like angel wings
Hovers mysteriously above you
Take off your shoes!
Take off your shoes of distraction
Take off your shoes of ignorance and blindness
Take off your shoes of hurry and worry
Take off anything that prevents you
from being a child of wonder.
Take off your shoes;
The ground you stand on is holy.
The ground you are is holy.
From Seasons of Your Heart: Prayers and Reflections, Revised and Expanded, by Macrina Wiederkehr (New York: HarperCollins, 1991).
The Messiness of Life
May you be blessed when you are caught up in the messiness of life,
when the daily directions begin to go this way and that
and nothing seems to follow the pattern you’ve set.
At those times may you know the freedom
to let go of your plan
and, with a discerning heart,
to watch for God’s design in your life.
May you trust in the chaos knowing
that it was from such that the world came to be.
May the God of Entrustment bless you.
–Maxine Shonk, OP
