Tread with Love… Appreciating our Fantastic Feet

 
Sometimes we take for granted some of our most amazing features, and we forget how remarkably blessed our lives are because of God’s handiwork. Many things can open our eyes anew to appreciate those blessings, and one in particular is….feet! These wonderful little tootsies of ours are quite a miracle as well as a necessity, and are actually mentioned in the Bible quite frequently. Consider the following ideas for a full lesson or a shorter object lesson on our fabulous feet.
Lesson focus: It’s important to appreciate the beautiful intricacies of our bodies, and to use them for the Lord; God gives us all we have in order to serve Him and spread the good news of Jesus.
Passage: John 13; Psalm 18:33-38; Psalm 40:2; Isaiah 52:7; Mark 9; Matthew 14:22-33; Ephesians 6:15
Target Audience: Pre-k through fifth grade (adaptable)
Materials Needed: Ink pad; paint; markers; various socks and shoes.
Lesson Opening: Shoe swap! Open up with a foot fun activity…have all of the students remove a shoe and place it in the center of the room. Form a circle around the shoes, and on a signal, instruct students to find someone else’s shoe, and return it to the owner. Once the shoe’s owner is found, have students compare foot size and shape before retrieving the shoe. For a longer or more challenging activity, have kids take off both shoes, and then find two different people to do the comparison with.
Bible Lesson:
Feet are really a rather amazing thing when you think about it. Share with students a little bit about feet, and talk about how important our feet are to our bodies as a whole. Look down at your feet, and if it’s convenient, have kids take off shoes and look at their toes. Most people have ten toes total, that’s easy enough to remember…but not everyone has the same length of all toes, and no one shares the same exact footprint (or toe-print). And what about bones? See if anyone can guess how many bones are in each foot. Actually, there are 26 of them, which means that over 25% of all the bones in our bodies are found just in our feet! And that is nothing compared to all of the various muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves that are in there. Most of the time, we might not think much of these varying parts, but when just one of them is out of order, it is pretty significantly noticeable. That alone is pretty amazing. God has made our feet so unique, and so intricate, and they do a lot for us. The average person will walk about 10,000 steps each day, which adds up to hundreds of miles of walking over the course of time. Each time you take one of those steps, your feet have to support all kinds of weight and pressure from your body. So why is all of this important? How does it connect to the Bible? Actually, feet show up time and again in scripture. Take a look at some of the passages in which feet are mentioned…
It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way secure.
³³ He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he causes me to stand on the heights.
³⁴ He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵ You make your saving help my shield,
and your right hand sustains me;
your help has made me great.
³⁶ You provide a broad path for my feet,
so that my ankles do not give way. (Psalm 18:32-36)
The Psalms are full of this kind of assurance that God will keep us from stumbling. This does not just mean physically, but the image serves as a significant reminder that God holds us up spiritually. Just as our feet support our bodies, God supports us and keeps our ways stable. He gives us a solid foundation on which to stand:
 
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.  -Psalm 40:2
And what is it that our feet are to be used for? God’s word tells us this, as well:
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!” -Isaiah 52:7
We may not typically think of feet as being “beautiful,” but in this case we are grateful for a means of spreading the good news of God. In Jesus’ time, feet were a main mode of transportation. Cars and planes were not around yet, so unless you took a donkey or a boat, most people walked around quite a lot. Feet are seen in the Bible as a method of getting from place to place. To that end, we should be prepared to utilize our feet, as the Armor of God instructs us…

 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  Ephesians 6:15
 
When we put on these “shoes of readiness,” God can do amazing things.
And, of course, we see feet in other Bible stories. Jesus healed people who were crippled and could not use their feet, which was a huge handicap in those days (Mark 9 is one example). He also walked on water (Matthew 14), which is not really something feet normally do! And He washed His disciples’ feet (John 13). This was a significant display of humility. Since people walked around a lot, and usually wore sandals, feet got quite dirty. Usually it was the servant’s job to wash feet when someone came into a house, but Jesus did it Himself to show who He was and why He came to earth.
All of this is to say that feet are important, and that they make numerous Biblical appearances in literal and figurative senses. But this does not mean God has some sort of foot fetish. It means that we ought to appreciate the capabilities (literal and figurative) of our feet, as well as all of our body parts! God has made us special and important, and endowed us with remarkable potential to do good work for Him.
 
Craft:
Foot crafts are abundant, so get creative and have fun. You may simply stamp or trace feet and attach a verse. Or you could use paint, and make a picture out of footprints. You could also decorate socks to take home, or make special shoelaces or shoe decorations. You could even use beads to make anklets. The possibilities are endless.
 
Close with prayer and thank God for our feet and all of our body parts. Ask for help in appreciating them and using them to the best of our ability.