On tiptoes...

My sister as a child was one who always walked on her tiptoes (even sometimes now, she will catch herself doing it).  While sometimes this tendency does point to potential health problems, for the most part it is a short term pattern that usually seen as "cute".

There are times when I find myself walking on the tips of my toes (even today) - such as when I am walking through wet grass or puddles and don't want to get my whole foot soaking wet.  Other times, I will strain upwards on my toes to try  to see better.  Standing on my tippy-toes has me yearning towards a goal, towards a possibility.

In my devotions this morning, I was reading an entry in a book called "Seasons of our Heart: Prayers and reflections" by Macrina Wiederkehr in which she wrote: "Standing on tiptoe is not a children's game of balance.  Rather, it is the beautiful prayer of balancing God's promises with my joyful expectation."

Standing on the tips of our toes is about HOPE.  It is that longing towards a goal, towards a purpose.  It is desire and action rolled up together that draws us up as we seek something more, better, different, new.

We can stand firm on the ground, established in place.  We need this assurance of support for balance that sustains us.  Yet, like a flower that turns towards the sun, yearning for nourishment and life, we took can be rooted and yet draw ourselves up, turning ourselves towards the Son who gives us life, who offers us more than roots will allow.

Hope is what feeds our  lives, that sustains us when we are weary, that leads us forth towards something more.  Standing on tiptoes is hope rooted in grace.

Macrina Wiederkehr shares this poem/prayer:

On tiptoe we stand, Lord Jesus
eagerly awaiting
your full revelation
always expecting you
to come some more.

Our hands and hearts
are open to your grace.
Our lives are still waiting for
the fullness of your presence.
We are those who have been promised
a Kingdom, and we can never forget
Yet we have a foot in both worlds
and we stumble.

But still we stand
on tiptoe
owning our kingdom-loving hearts
and our earth-eyes
We lean forward
and hope.