Last Thursday my toe and fingernails were in dire need of some sprucing up so I headed to my favorite salon to get some TLC. It’s my favorite not because I love the technicians or because it’s a lovely place or even because they serve wine (they don’t). It’s my favorite because they rub your legs and feet for what seems like FOR-EVER. Like seriously; 10-15 minutes on each side. It’s pure heaven.
What is it about getting our feet rubbed that is so fabulous? Think about it, the rubbing of hands and arms doesn’t feel half as great as the rubbing of feet during a mani-pedi appointment. And massages? Yes, the back and shoulders being rubbed down is such a treat, but when the masseuse gets to your feet it’s pure luxury. Rub my feet I ask; just rub my feet.
Maybe I’m a bit more sensitive to my feet right now because I actually hurt my left foot last week. I have no idea what I did to it, but the top felt bruised and I had to ice it and oil it up for two days. It’s all better now but it made me think about my feet.
Our feet are not only essential in many ways, but influential too. Did you know each of your feet has more than 7,000 nerve endings? SEVEN THOUSAND! Also called reflexes, they correspond to every organ system in your body. EVERY ORGAN. If you’ve ever had reflexology, you know this as pressing on them can stimulate the nervous system and open energy pathways that may be blocked, congested, or injured. Everything from digestion to headaches to PMS can be affected by pushing on the right areas of your feet.
It’s also interesting how putting specific essential oils on certain areas of your feet can prevent illness, alleviate altitude sickness and allergies, ease aching muscles and joints, and a whole lot more. When travelling recently, during the current flu season, and before heading into my class of three-year-olds, I put two Young Living oils on the bottoms of my feet to prevent catching anything and I’ve yet to get sick this year. Knock on wood.
As powerful as they are, feet aren’t very popular. Very few people like touching them and in all honesty, they aren’t the most attractive areas of our bodies. Thinking about this makes me respect pedicurists even more. Day in and day out they clip, scrape, and rub client’s feet. As I contemplated all of this during my pedicure last Thursday, it dawned on me that I have never seen the owner/manager of the salon give a pedicure. She sits at the first manicurist table, answers the phone, and is forever working on someone’s fingernails but never does she give pedicures. Why is this? Is it below her to do so? Does not doing them make her feel superior to her staff? In all honesty it kinda bothered me.
What about humility?
Teamwork?
Lending a hand in a pinch?
I returned home still analyzing this (and over analyzing it cuz that’s what I do) and remembered I hadn’t read my Lenten daily reading and “Our Daily Bread” blog that morning. I sat down to read them and of course it was all about Jesus’ “basin of love.” Chills.
On Holy Thursday, we read about how Jesus washed the feet of His disciples right before The Last Supper. Back in His day, even Jewish servants were spared this task because it was seen as beneath even them. Jesus being Jesus though, washed the feet of all of them including Judas, knowing full well he was going to later betray Him.
Ironically, right before Jesus washed their feet, the disciples had been arguing about which one of them was the greatest. It was customary to wash feet often back then but since there was no servant present, the 12 didn’t know what to do and never considered washing each other’s feet. Then, Jesus stepped in and stepped up. He showed love, he showed respect, and he showed humility.
I’ll think of this the next time I get a pedicure and the next time a masseuse rubs my feet. They truly have basins and hands of love. And humility. I’m humbled by them all.
Beyond Words 