After baby has discovered her hands by sight, taste, observation of movement and grace, one fine day, she finds her feet. Not only can she reach and lift her feet, separately or even together, but she can bring those chubby wiggling toes to her mouth to taste their sweetness. The pleasure and surprise of feet in a little one`s mouth is almost as good as a mother`s taut nipple dripping milk on lips and tongue, or a good pacifier when she was upset and sleepy. A foot in one`s mouth can be something wonderful to munch on, since one doesn`t have sharp teeth and that foot has not been hardened by walking the ground.
But once we lose the nimbleness of a baby`s body and acquire the ability to firm our feet on the floor and, more than toddling first sweet steps, get them walking to where we want to go, our feet lose their sweetness. As they get older, they even gain dirt and calluses! That is where sticking one`s foot in one`s mouth becomes a serious disorder. Not only has the mouth developed teeth and taste for beef and potatoes as well as mother`s milk and pablum, but the feet have become nimble at getting into trouble going to and from destinations near and far. Speech is another detail we have developed and will continue to use in all our life of communication and miscommunication. So when, instead of sane and pleasant speech, we say something that gets us or someone around us into trouble, we say we stuck our foot into our mouth. It isn`t just an infantile habit – it is a grossly inappropriate use of an appendage to a limb in a clumsy, unacceptable manner. Blessed are the feet, that stand fast in adversity, that bring glad tidings, that keep us walking or running the race. Blessed is the mouth that salivates, that tastes good food, that tastes and sees that the Lord is good, the mouth that chews well, the mouth that kisses and caresses his or her beloved. But feet don`t do well in one`s mouth, nor does a mouth do well full of stinky feet!
Growing children sometimes still stick their feet in their mouths, like when I was nine and learning more facts of life, and asked a friend`s obese grandmother when her baby was due. Adolescents are notorious for sticking their feet in their mouths and thinking they are oh! So awesome! But when you or I are reasonable adults, we must take care with our words lest they do less or more than communicate grace and love.
Some “foot in mouth” blunders people close to me (or even I myself!) have committed:
- Saying “we look forward to your presents” (in lieu of presence) when inviting someone to their wedding
- Mentioning “your father’s first wife” to someone whose parents have been together for more than fifty years
- How are you dealing with your Inability to hold down a job? Alcoholism? Drug dependency? Dementia? Depression? Or name it – whatever problem, although firmly denied, looms greatly over their lives
- Asking how the lovers’ family is getting along, to someone who doesn`t know (or refuses to admit) the other person’s infidelity?
- Questioning someone’s spiritual (sexual, financial, academic) life
- Mentioning uncomfortable situations or “giving advice” when not asked for
Foot and mouth disease is a physical ailment that can be treated with antibiotics. But the displeasure of sticking one’s foot into one’s mouth hurts the body that attempts it, the body that hears or sees the effects of the feat, and everybody around, both near and far. Jesus said that our mouths speak what fills our hearts (“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” – Mat 12:34). His brother James affirmed: “… the tongue is a fire” (cf. James 3:5-18). His disciple born out of season, Paul, vividly described the situation: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (cf. Romans 7:24-25.)
Hope to not have to learn through the school of hard knocks (another cliché worth dissecting in a future blog) how to guard my mouth and through it commend knowledge and with gentle tongue be a tree of life (cf. Prov 15:2-4).
Elizabeth Gomes
