Each night that is not bath night the two little guys and I have this thing we do.  Last night I was thinking and pondering while doing it.  It goes something like this...

After dinner and clean up it is time for the young ones to get pj's on and teeth brushed before we all sit down for family Bible study and prayer.  I will finish up what I am doing in the kitchen, gather the two little guys and head them into the bathroom.  (Usually they are marching as we go.)  I undress them to the shorts and plop them up onto the counter.  They stick their little feet in the sink basin and I wash their feet one child at a time, after which I dry them and wash faces and we all brush our teeth.  Sometimes if they have been busy outside at their "fort" I have to wash arms and leg bottoms too.  They can get dirty can't they.

Last night I was thinking and I thought about the times in the bible where foot washing was mentioned.  The time when the lady washed Jesus' feet and dried them with her hair and she was "reprimanded" by the apostle.  The time Jesus Himself washed His disciples feet as an act of service and love to them.  There were other times I am sure as it was a custom of their day.  These times jumped out at me.  Both times it was an act of love and service.  It was from the heart.  A dirty, common job made into a showing of love. 

Now, I will admit, sometimes things get a little loud in there and I end up getting just as wet as if I had given them a full-fledged bath.  I have gotten a little fiesty myself and doled out reprimands, like that apostle.  Last night it was different.  As I looked into the basin of water, the smallness of their feet and the largeness of my hands are what took my heart by surprise.  My hands cover their feet.  They have small feet.  Healthy feet.  Feet that run and jump and climb and march every waking minute of the day.  Busy feet.

Busy feet.  Feet that walked along dirt paths and no running bathwater roads.  Feet that walked for miles and miles to heal the sick, raise people from the dead, save the ones He served from their sins.  Feet that were nailed to the cross for yours and mine and my little guy's sins.  Feet that paid a price for our human conditions. 

I will always remember washing my little guys' feet in the sink.  It will always remind me of why I do what I do.  We are raising an army of marching feet for the Lord!  I am not idlely standing there washing the feet of my children.  I am serving them and in turn I am serving the Lord.  I am teaching my little guys' character and how to have a servants heart as I have been taught by the Lord.  By example.  By imitation.

May I always have family to serve and feet to wash and the Lord to guide and lead me in His will.