"In Your Footprints"

June 29, 2009

Luke and I decided to take one last walk on the beach together on our last day of vacation in Panama City, Florida. The sand was warm, the sun hot, and the water cool and clear. The only problem was jellyfish--and a LOT of 'em!

We carefully made our way along the shoreline, cautiously stepping around all the jellyfish that had washed up everywhere we looked. I noticed that Luke stayed behind me as I manuevered through the squishy/dangerous carnage. I asked Luke why he was hanging back behind me. He answered me with a sentence that stopped me dead in my tracks: "Mommy, I'm walking in your footprints."

It was a simple statement Luke made, but it took my breath anyway. He was stating an obvious fact, but the words gave me pause. Yes, my kids are walking in my footprints. I wondered though, is that always a good thing?

Sometimes my footprints take me right up to the heart of God, so near that he can "cover [me] with His feathers, and under His wings [I] will find refuge" (Psalms 91:4). Other times, my footprints probably take me places so far from God that I would be ashamed for my children to follow me there.

Where do your footprints show that you've been? Who's following along in your footprints? Are you standing on "Holy Ground," or are you struggling to get your footing on the shifting sands of our world? Wherever you find yourself, know that God is there with you, and somebody, somewhere is bound to be following you.