Sorry for the pun, but it does fit the topic that I am writing about. Feet. We had our share of foot problems during the Camino – mostly blisters, although I’m sure there were plenty of plain old sore feet at the end of each day of hiking. This was despite careful planning, including multiple long “practice” hikes in our shoes/boots. 

Tending to blisters

A couple of scriptures also come to mind when I think about feet.

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!” (Is 52:7)

The head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty. (1 Cor 12:21-23)

Treating our feet with special honor

I’ve experienced a fair amount of foot problems related to my running. Besides blisters, I’ve lost numerous toenails and battled plantar fasciitis more than once. In fact, when I think about my feet, it is mostly because they hurt or have recently been hurting. 

I think there a lot of things in our lives that we mostly ignore, except when they are causing us pain. There is a reflection in Magnificat (Aug 27) by Father Dajczer, discussing the parable of the talents. He states that “A talent is not only receiving something, it is also lacking something.” He goes on to say that “bad health is also a talent.” 
May we learn to recognize things good and “bad” as blessings.