Barefoot Living

Seems we spend so much time trying to solve problems with things.

We see an issue or a need in our life and we try to fill that with things. We buy that new pair of shoes, those new chairs for the living room, the pictures on the walls that match the decor. It all has to fit. It all has to match. It all has to be perfect.

Until it’s not perfect next week… we’ll have to fix that.

I spent some time walking on the coast of Lake Huron, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The rocks on the shore line contrasts with the silky and sandy beaches of Lake Michigan. The rocks pierce the bottoms of my feet.

Should have worn shoes I guess.

But really that’s not really my problem, is it? Maybe I need to do a little more barefoot livin’. Maybe the problem is not the pain on my feet, but rather the fact that my feet are not callused enough to not experience hurt.

Maybe instead of fixing the problem with buying a new pair of shoes I can live a more simple life. To live a little more life barefoot. A barefoot livin’ – simple life.

A simple life that focuses less on what I own and more about putting myself in situations where my feet become a more callused.

Maybe that’s how I need to look at the many other things in my life. And maybe things don’t just look physical. How can I live a life that is more callused?

How can I live in a way where I’m focused less on what offends me and embrace a life of forgiveness and flexibility. Focus more on the things that I can do for other people, than the things that they do that annoy me.

How to live with more grace.

This year I’m trying to live a life with more calluses. On my feet and on my soul.

Life looks sweeter walking around barefoot – life looks sweeter extending more grace.

July 10, 2022 – Straights State Park, Mi. By a campfire.