Over the course of our life we Jesus we utter a lot of prayers, and those prayers can take all sorts of forms. Some prayers are a single-word cry, like “Help!” Some prayers are liturgical, handed down through the centuries by faithful saints whose beautiful words still echo the stirrings of our soul. Others are connected to the rising needs of a moment, offered up not with eloquence or form as they are poured out of the emotional pulse of our need.
Then there are those prayers that, on the surface, even seem a little “odd.” If you were to write them out on paper and read them to someone else they may make little to no sense at all, but they make perfect sense to you. That’s the response I first had to the prayer that sits at the heart of today’s song: “I wanna be where my feet are.” Disconnected from the message of the song those words make little sense, but when we stop and consider them in context, and we also consider the invitation within them, they become quite profound.
I once heard someone say that the biggest problem with people in the modern world is that they refuse to live in the moment—they are either reliving or rehashing the past, or they are looking forward to the future with a mixture of hope and fear. When we live like that we often miss the “sacrament of the present moment,” to borrow a phrase from Jean-Pierre de Caussade. And yet it is in the present moment where we are most alive to God.
One of the invitations of Lent is to stop looking back, to stop looking forward, and to sit with the reality of what God is doing in us right here, right now. In the present moment we are most able to understand the living presence of Jesus and the extent of his mercy and compassion towards us. The kind of centering prayer we’re invited to practice with this song is all about embracing today. As the Psalmist says:
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”—Psalm 118:24 (NRSV)
To “be where your feet are” is to be in the moment, in this day the Lord has made. Because what he gives us is now.
I chase my worries
I flee my sorrows
But what you give me
Is now
Read the rest of the lyrics here.
Questions for Reflection
1) Do you find it hard to be “in the present moment?” What has the most power to distract you and pull you out of what God would have you know and experience here and now? Offer those things to him in prayer, asking him to center you in today.
2) Spend some time reflecting on and praying with these words from today’s song: “The ground below me is how you hold me.” What do those words mean to you? How does it impact your understanding of the prayer “I want to be where my feet are?”
3) Read and reflect on this verse. Let it lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:
“So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.”—2 Corinthians 4:16 (NRSV)