"Sitting At His Feet"

Whenever we visit our daughter and her family in New Mexico, Monique and I have the additional delight of enjoying their two beautiful dogs as well. We first met their 5-year-old Mini Golden-Doodle, Sophie Grace, in 2018. She is an intelligent and intuitive mother hen. Sophie is well trained, obedient, and watches our reactions to anticipate our moods and desires. The one-year-old, Mocha Latte, a black and white, Shiatzu, is “learning the ropes.” He is the newest member of “Team Defrees” and is quite charming, playful, and energetic, but immature at times as he tags along behind Sophie. They make a most loving and entertaining duo!

Sophie and Mocha under foot!💕

Since we don’t have a pet at home anymore because of the passing of our dear Cock-a-Poodle, Freddie, some years ago, it is definitely an adjustment for Monique and me to have to navigate around the house when these feisty canines are competing with us for the same space in the kitchen, family room and bedroom areas. It’s easy for visiting seniors to get tripped up if we do not keep aware of our surroundings! 😊

These days, in addition to Sophie and Mocha, there is a house-cleaning assistant also passing to and fro over the tile and carpeted areas doing her chores. I’m speaking of our newest addition to the family, Rita. She is a robotic vacuum cleaner that is still mapping the residence while covering all the flat surfaces, like a Sherman Tank on a search and destroy mission, to suck up all the sand, dust, dog hair and everything else deemed to be dirt (including a pair of socks)!

With all this foot traffic, I have been thinking about the phrase “sitting at the feet.” This idiomatic phrase suggests paying homage to someone important. Jesus regularly instructed his disciples reclining at the meal table or in other settings where individuals were seated around him. One of the most memorable occasions involved Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Mary was frustrating her task-oriented sister, Martha, by sitting at Jesus’ feet and “hanging on every word he said” (Luke 10:39) rather than helping her prepare a meal!

Jesus addressed Martha’s complaint by saying, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing is essential, and Mary has chosen it – it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.” (Luke 10:41-42, MSG). I plead guilty to “Fussing far too much!” I believe it’s systemic with many of us who are task-oriented! I have been doing this all my life and have repeatedly needed the loving redirect of Jesus every time I “fussed” when I should have “discerned” what is really important.

Today, there is a similar prescription to what Jesus told Martha, “Let’s keep the main thing the main thing!” This is hard for some of us. But even more of a reason why we need those daily quiet times invested in reading God’s Word and praying. These disciplined times, sitting at the feet of Jesus, become important times of reorientation and redirection. Daily instruction at the feet of Jesus is the “the main thing” in our spiritual formation.

Let’s devote more time to sitting at Jesus’ feet. There are blessings of rest and peace in those quiet moments!

Mike Keppler, retired pastor,

active churchman and

doting grandparent.

Contact: drmjkeppler@gmail.com