The Theology of Feet

The most common problem I have ever encountered when I'm looking at someone else's goats is their feet. Many, many people don't trim their hooves often enough. Needless to say, they will grow grossly long and affect how they walk. People have given me their goats in the past (yes, I know, don't look a gift goat in the mouth, right?) and I consistently take notice of the fact that these goats often have seriously deformed feet.

Let me take a moment to admit that I'm very particular about this issue. The first thing I do when I get a new animal is to trim it's feet and give it wormer. Every spring, I catch my sheep and do this, as well. My goats get their hooves trimmed probably every couple of weeks, though. To me, it is one of the easiest things and one of the most beneficial things you can do. To keep a set of feet standing flat on the ground is to set the whole animal straight.

When the hooves are allowed to grow too much, they begin to curve upward. When that happens, the whole of the leg begins to lean backward. This puts stress on their ankles, knees, shoulders, hips, etc. In time, you'll hear the 'clackety-click' of their arthritic joints in response to the deformity. Another problem, is that the sides of the hooves will start to curl under and trap all sorts of garbage on the inside. When that happens, it can easily cause fungal or bacterial growth right on the inside of the hoof. Either way, you'll end up with a lame animal. If your animal is lame, it will not be able to stand to eat, breed, drink or exercise. The feet are quite literally the foundation.

When I think of the implications of overgrown hooves, I think of my own laziness over proper 'trimming' in my life. This world is filthy and corrupt and I'm not impervious to it's vices. If I don't consistently prune back my flesh, my entire alignment will be off. If I allow more of me to grow, I will by my very nature begin to trap junk on the inside of me. Pressing this corrupting matter close to myself, will in turn corrupt my insides. Trimming back my excess will expose what's pressing against me so it can easily fall away instead of becoming trapped to my insides. Allowing too much of me to grow will also simply offset a healthy balance in my life. Something so small as a hoof can throw off the conformation of the entire animal. To compensate for the malformation, the rest of the body must malform itself. I have found that if I allow myself to become less like the image of Christ and more like the image of selfishness, it affects everything around me. My malformation becomes the malformation of my entire sphere of influence. O woe is me when I not only cause myself to stumble, but those around me!

Romans 8:28-31 says,"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; those he called he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

I come to my goats with a pair of hoof trimmers in my hand. I come to trim away their excess so their feet may be conformed to the image of correctness. Their feet were designed to be a certain way, same as we were created and predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. Trimming their hooves is much like the 'justification process' we undergo as sons and daughters of God. When we have submitted to the Lord's trimming, we can stand strong. When we have the image of correctness (Christ), who can stand against us? The answer is 'no one'.

Submit to the Lord. Stand strong. Stumbling will become less of a reality if we do this.