dirty feet

In Revelation 21:21 we are told that "the great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass." The city being spoken of is the New Jerusalem, a fixture of heaven.

To the people who first read this, their roads were quite different than the ones in this heavenly city. Their roads were dirt, and people shared them with animals. Living in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, i am quite aware of the results of shared roads: poop. You drive through it and step in it and dodge it and it's everywhere. To the first century Christians, their feet were their tires, and you dragged your feet into people's homes.

This is one reason why it is so amazing to me that in John 12 Mary cleans Jesus' feet with her hair and in John 13 that Jesus shows "the greatest extent of His love" by washing His disciples' feet. But why did Mary and Jesus do this?

I believe they had heaven in their sites. They were able to see with their hearts. And when heaven is in your hearts, you dwell there and are aliens here (I Peter 2:11). When the thing you dirty your feet with in heaven (gold) is the most valuable resource here on earth, suddenly the dirt-and-poop combo glimmers with heaven all over it. Washing someone's feet (performing a minuscule task, saved normally for the lowest in society) becomes an interaction of great value. Meanwhile, "all that shimmers in this world is sure to fade away again." (Shimmer, by Fuel)

But all of this depends on keeping a heavenly perspective of earthly opportunities. A perspective that echoes, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

What are the every day, small tasks, seemingly meaningless chores that could be done with a heavenly perspective today? What are the things that no one else wants to do that you can, and can do as an act of worship to God (John 12:1-11)?

May your dirt-and-poop be gold.