Feet provide the means to get from Point A to point B

They lead me and I lead them

I’m not always proud of where I have been;

I compromise my identity, my will

And mysteriously my feet remember

They remember the tension, the unassuredness,

the tiptoeing around issues, the addressing problems,

passively saying everything, every action, every path is fine for me.

My feet remember

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I feel it as I ride my bike

I have fallen twice since moving to Seattle and they have shook me up both times, and instilled in my feet was fear or safety in my tension  just in case it happened again. It is stored, specifically, in my arches and intensifies when I am going down hill. So I’ve been practicing surrendering to the hill, the speed, the unknown of riding fast, releasing the tension in my feet and putting trust in my faith and bike that everything will be fine.

My feet store more than just triggered bike tension, for every willful act against my character, my identity, or place that was in opposition to the core of me, these experiences are held and kept inside. And likewise everywhere I felt the most connected to place, identity, and character my feet remember. Like hiking through brooks in Scotland or walking into a voice lesson that I had been craving all week, or the peace of creating home with strangers.

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Warrior, that word resonates with me. Duncan means dark skinned warrior  and has been passed down in my family for generations. So the idea of fighting, standing, or defending really inspires the core of who I am and when I hear the Armor of God it does the same thing.

“Therefore put on the full armor of God , so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:14-17)

Well! I must relearn how to stand, because if I am standing on peace, I have been misguided, misdirected because in my tension is a lack of peace.  But I can remember when I standing on peace. Peace is my guide, peace is my readiness for action. What good news? I am released from the shoulds, or have tos, or needs, and replaced with standing on peace. But first I need to find that peace and rid myself of the tension. A reclaiming of your peace, if you will, and destroying the hindrances of your peace; like tension, worry, past hurts.

So I put on my shoes of peace with really good arch support because I have an Achilles heel that need some tending to and sensitive skin that needs attention.