Painted Feet of Love!
John 13: 34-35 says: “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
A few weeks ago I took Ellie outside to paint with her feet. It was a rare sunny spring day here in Illinois and I wanted to take advantage of it. 
While Ellie marched back and forth on the long white paper leaving beautiful marks with painted feet I was reminded that everyday we are leaving our mark. We are leaving a mark on the world in which we live. What kind of mark are we leaving? Are the marks we leave beautiful? The most important mark I want to leave is the mark of love. Love points people to Jesus. We have the opportunity everyday to love well. What does love look like? When we love others well it puts Jesus on display. I want to love in such a way that Jesus is shining through.
“Hey Helena, I really like the poem you wrote. I see a great future for you as a writer. Mrs. Chang also told me she saw your work in designer clothes that’s also a good career choice. Whatever your decision stay in school and be the best you can be. What’s really important is to work hard and enjoy doing what you do. Best of luck! Shane”
I was in Junior High. Something terrible had just happened. The kind of situation I’m not sure I’ll ever share with the world but the situation left a mark on me. School even before that moment was my happy place. School was the place I could leave it all at the door. After a confusing moment in life God knew I needed a sign that everything was going to be ok. Little did I know that I would find that sign in my math class the very next morning. I walked into class like nothing had happened just hours before. We had a guest speaker. It was one of my math teachers past students. Shane was his name! All the girls were head over heels for him. They spent the class period with googly eyes, passing notes and snickering at his every word. I was just eager to see why he was there. For the next 50 minutes Shane poured into us. He encouraged us to stay in school, not to do drugs and to be kind to others. He even took the time to ask each of us what we wanted to be when we grew up. I said I wanted to be a writer. The next day when we got back to class Shane had written each of us a note. I still have mine today. It still encourages me. When I’m going through a tough time I look at that note that continues to remind me that everything will be ok. I wonder how many other kids kept the note. I will forever be thankful for a young guy who chose to leave a mark of love on a group of junior high kids, a mark that impacted me forever.
Leaving a mark of love can be as simple as a smile, a kind gesture, encouraging word, hug or in my case a note. Leaving a mark of love does not have to be complicated. The easiest way to leave a mark of love is staying close to Jesus. Let Him guide your feet through the paint and watch the beautiful way He uses you to mark the world with love.
Shine4Him 