When you go to another to wash his feet, or when another comes to wash your feet, be concerned as to the temperature of the water!

Some come with boiling hot water. They are so angry, so upset, so distracted by something that has happened in the past—and so mad about it—that they come to the other person and say, “Here, stick your feet in here!” Nobody wants to have his feet washed with boiling water.

Some go to the other extreme and come with ice water. They are so righteous, so holier-than-thou, so above it all. They come with this frigid, freezing water and want to wash your feet. Nobody wants to have his feet washed with ice water.

Some find a third extreme and come without any water! They try to dry-clean your feet with “a piece of their mind,” just scrubbing away harshly. What they say may be true, but there is no water of love, nothing to wash the dirt gently away, but only a rigid insistence on scraping away every imperfection and the skin along with it!

There is another way—that is to come and wash one another’s feet in love, in the spirit of servanthood.