As a dancer feet are of course important. There are often comments on how beautiful a particular dancers feet are, especially in ballet. Look at those arches! What a beautiful toe point! Check out that turn out! On and on. In some circles if you don't have the right feet you won't get very far.
Truth be told, and every dancer will tell you this, inside of the shoes the feet really aren't that pretty. They aren't perfectly manicured with flawless polish. Quite the contrary. They are usually calloused with sores and kind of banged up. Dancers put their feet through the paces. Dancers notoriously have ugly feet because of all the work and punishment they inflict on them.
One night while in the studio I looked down at my feet and noticed how calloused and kind of ugly they have become. I made mention of that and how I won't waste my money on pedicures anymore because they will just look like this again within days. My teacher looked at me and said, "It's okay, dancers always have ugly feet."
On my way home that night after class I started to think about my feet and how banged up they are now as well as how much more they hurt since I've started dancing again. I heard this quiet voice in my spirit whisper the words of Romans 10:15 to my heart. I began to think about the times when those words were written. Those who were traveling around preaching the Gospel in those days to bring the good news to those who needed to hear wore sandals. They traveled on dusty, muddy and manure-filled roads. To say that their feet were dirty and stinky is an understatement. And yet, God considers them beautiful and I love that.
I think that prior to a couple weeks ago when I heard that verse I always pictured these clean, polished, smooth looking feet. No real reason, it's just what my mind always saw when I heard that verse. Something like this:
These are pretty feet. But these are not feet that have been put through the paces. They aren't active dancer feet. They don't bare the scars. They look like they've never worked hard, worn a pair of heels all day in the office, danced for hours until they were numb, etc. They don't seem to have much of a story to tell.
I have a much different idea in my head of the beautiful feet that bring the Good News. They look much like dancer feet. They are scarred from running the race. They probably hurt. It's not easy sometimes especially when they are fighting an uphill battle. And yet, they continue because God looks down and calls them beautiful. He is amazing in that He does that with so many "ugly" things. He sees the value that often we cannot see. This is sort of what I picture in my head now:
These feet have a story to tell. They've been somewhere. They've seen adventure. Yes, there are some bruises along the way but as most women say, beauty is pain.
So as I dance my way through this journey God is taking me on I will look down at my feet and think differently about them. They aren't so ugly afterall. Everytime I spend my time dancing for His glory and ministering through dance, no matter how much they hurt or how calloused they get they are beautiful.
