Footprints of Grace
“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.” Psalm 119:133
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” Psalm 37:23
“Do you know how many steps I walked yesterday?” my beloved Mom asked me when she came for a visit. “I can tell you!” she exclaimed. And so she did. She wasn’t so interested in how many steps she actually walked, but was sharing her awe at how thanks to technology on her telephone her every step gets tracked and recorded day by day.
“Lord, help me to leave footprints of grace,” I prayed to God one day as I knelt changing the diaper of and cleaning up paralyzed dog Mr. Simeon.
Footprints of grace. My Mom was pointing out to me how technology makes it such a telephone can record our steps for us. But that is neither here nor there, is it? Consider God knows our every breath – and every footprint we make. Each and every day, just as my Mom’s telephone tracks all the steps she takes, God knows all the breaths we take and the footprints we leave in our wake as we walk and live through each and every day, week, month, and year He gives us. Not only this, but the people in the world around us can see our footprints – not on the pavement, not on the ground, not on the floor, but in how we affect their lives and what they see of us as we cross paths with them or walk by them.
Footprints of grace. My Mom’s phone tracks her next step – and the next. And the last one and those before. In our self-centered thinking, we can so easily lose track of the fact God is watching us – and that the world around us can be influenced, negatively or positively, by how we conduct ourselves. By how we walk through our lives. By our hearts. By our actions. By how we see and act toward God. By how we act toward and in front of others. Are we following Jesus? Do our footprints show this?
As we walk through this very 24 hours, as we live and breathe through it, do we walk in Christ’s love, do we show God’s mercy to others, do we forgive when we need to, are we patient and kind, gentle and giving, worshiping God above all and everyone else, praising Him, thankful in our hearts to Him, helping others, proclaiming the Gospel to others, serving the Lord, loving Him above all else, offering grace to others? What kind of legacy are we leaving in every footprint? God knows. The world sees also. In our hearts, is our foremost desire to love and revere and serve the Lord with thankful hearts? Does this show in our steps? In our footprints? When our steps go in the wrong direction, and we sin against God and hurt others, do our footprints show that in our hearts and actions we repent and return to God and His ways?
What kind of footprints are you making?