Putting my feet up

My first ever job was as a dishwasher. I was nine years old and my pastor’s wife–who also happened to be our across the street neighbor–wanted someone to wash dishes on Fridays as she prepared baked goods to be sold at the local Farmer’s market.

We started at eight or nine in the morning and kept going until at least four or five in the afternoon. Malinda made sticky rolls, braided Danishes, angel food cakes, sponge cakes, and more. And I washed dishes and wrapped baked goods.

We were on our feet for most of the day. Malinda chided me for my lack of appropriate footwear and lent me an extra pair of Birkenstocks (my feet were already size huge, so hers fit me just fine). And once an hour, we took five minutes to put our feet up.

We’d go to the kitchen table, pull out a chair, and…lay on the floor with our feet on the chair.

It was purposeful, intentional, and utterly relaxing.

We’d been working hard. Our feet were tired. They needed a break. We needed a break.

And so we took one. Not a break to laze about and gossip, but a break to rejuvenate our bodies for the next task.

Undoubtedly we looked silly, an older woman and a young girl, lying on the kitchen floor with their feet on a chair. But we were catching our breath, relaxing our bodies and minds, and letting the fluid leave our feet.

I don’t wash dishes all day anymore. I’m rarely on my feet. The need to literally put my feet up occurs only rarely. But I wonder if I’ve forgotten what Malinda was trying to teach me.

It is good to take a break. Not to be lazy or idle–but to rest. I may not be on my feet anymore, but I sit at my computer for hours on end. Perhaps I need to get off the computer for five minutes an hour and rest my eyes. I read for an extraordinary amount of time each day. Perhaps I need to rest from that. I think for a living–studying, preparing lessons, grading papers. Maybe I need to rest my mind every once in a while–and take time to just be.

Instead of running as hard as I can and burning myself out, maybe I need to learn how to take purposeful breaks, truly relaxing breaks. Maybe I need to re-learn the lesson Malinda taught. Maybe I need to put my feet up every once and a while.