Earth’s Crammed with Heaven

"Earth's crammed with heaven,

and every common bush afire with God

But only he who sees takes off his shoes."

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How often have you seen this quote standing on its own? It’s lovely, but confusing, probably because it is a three-line grab from a larger work by Elizabeth Barrett Browning titled Aurora Leigh, and is often simply offered without meaning.

But I want to share what this quote means to me.

The first time I read it was on a gift to me. My super-talented sister-in-law, Julie, gave me a beautiful hand lettered piece with this quote years ago.

Immediately, it resonated for me as a traveler. Because everywhere I go, every time I travel, I have what I call God-moments. I notice that that the entire earth is crammed with the presence of God. In the landscape. In the people. In every moment.

Yet, God is not just visible in a place, but also in his creation. "Every common bush afire with God." In his goodness, God has created a beautiful, diverse, incredible world for us to enjoy. I revel in his creativity every time I travel.

It's the last line that used to trip me up: "Only he who sees takes off his shoes." I had a sense of it--that we are to be in awe--but why take off our shoes?

In Exodus chapter 3, Moses has an encounter with God in the form of a burning bush. (A "common bush afire with God"?) It is during this encounter that God calls Moses to lead his people, and in verse 5, the Angel of the Lord tells him to remove his sandals from his feet because "the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

Taking off one's shoes, standing barefoot in the presence of God, signifies our humanness in the midst of God's holiness. When we have encountered God, whether in a burning bush or on a mountaintop in Switzerland, it is only right for us to recognize our humanity compared to the incomprehensible greatness of the One who has created all things.

The Alps. The coral reefs. The plains. The seaside. Each individual human. Red-winged black birds. Wine.

All of it!

Next time you see these three lines dropped out there without comment, remember that they point to God, Creator of heaven and earth, and remind us of our place before him.

And the next time you travel to a place that makes you say, “Ahhh. How good is God to create this?” may you (figuratively) take off your shoes and recognize that the ground you are standing on is holy indeed.