Take Your Shoes Off, Please

Take Off Your Shoes, Please

I remember when I was growing up that one of the most cardinal sins of our household was tracking mud through the house. We knew that taking off our shoes was mandatory. This image of taking off one’s shoes is appropriated by Macrina Wiederkehr in her book Seasons of Your Heart: Prayers and Reflections.

The submissive act of taking one’s shoes off has good scriptural precedent. Remember Moses at the burning bush? God said to Moses, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground”(Exodus 3:5).

Interestingly, just before this theophany, Moses was minding his own business, tending the sheep of his father-in-law. All of a sudden God was revealed in the midst of the burning bush, speaking to Moses. It is this revelation of God that marks the place where the bush was as a sacred place, a place where God reveals his will and his ways.

We need to think of ourselves taking off our shoes as we too stand on holy ground. Such a sacred stance before God recognizes and celebrates the following:

The holy ground of our life
Life-changing theophanies
A submissive and obedient heart to the commands of God

The holy ground of our life are those times and places where we seek to give God the awe and reverence He so richly deserves. It is feeling free to designate our own “burning bush” as a sacred place to meet with God and converse with Him.

The life-changing theophanies are those unexplainable events where it is clear that God was present and active and revealing himself in transcendent moments. We have all had them.

A submissive and obedient heart allows us to take off the shoes because we know the character of the one who asks us to remove them. We lovingly comply because we know God loves us and has our best interests at heart. When we accept this our heart will be at peace within us.

“Take off your shoes, young man. Do not mess up my clean floor.” I can hear my mother’s voice still. Little did she or I realize that nascent training was preparing me for the sacred act of removing my sandals before the Lord. It is very humbling!

In Christian love, Curtis