Barefooted and Blessed

Today when I let the dog outside I took a moment to stand barefooted on the porch. 

Although there are still piles of snow in the yard, the breeze that met me was balmy.  There was a song in the air that was characteristic of spring -- could have been a male cardinal calling to a prospective mate.  Or perhaps he was simply proclaiming "I am alive, sitting upon a twig, watching the sun rising upon my world!"

There is something appealing about stepping outside barefooted.  I don't think about it much in the summertime, of course, but in February it is deliciously adventurous.  For a few moments, at least, my feet play hooky from the common sense notion that feet should be covered and perhaps even emboldened with "Yaktracs" (ice grippers).  It feels exhilerating to the kid in me, the aspect of my being that wants to walk on the edge, at least for a while. 

Perhaps these thoughts this morning have to do with all of the lessons this week that point to The Law.  Perhaps I am appreciating the tension that is always there between the limits of the "shoulds" and "musts" and the freedom of literally free falling into the openness of life in Christ. 

I could be wrong.... but it seems to me that my feet wouldn't twinkle with happiness at being bare on the porch this morning if they hadn't been bound in boots for most of the last 4 months.  And I know, beyond any doubt, that my heart and mind and soul wouldn't be singing with the joy of His Life bursting within me, if I didn't also appreciate all that weighed me down before I knew Him.