Summer: vacations, reunions, wandering, etc. has me thinking about footsteps. I see lots of hiking, touring, beaching, visiting friends saunter across social media. It makes me wonder; “Where their feet are taking them?” Not just the sights they see, but also, things revisited… others have traipsed there before. Who were they? What did they do there? How does it relate to the friend walking there now?
George Washington
I’m living in a historic town of our forefathers; George Washington spent his boyhood here. Does chopping down the cherry tree and throwing a coin across the river sound familiar? Yep, they happened here. His sister’s plantation, his birthplace, boyhood home are tourist spots. I pass his mother’s tomb while crossing town. James Monroe had a legal office here. We have battlegrounds, fields, monuments and cemeteries from the Civil War. They intersect with life all over this area. Men who founded and formed this country loved and visited our streets, homes, and river.
I think often how our feet have surely crossed paths. I mean the literal ground I am walking on: they did too. Perhaps, after 30-plus years, I have even stepped in an exact footprint of some of these men and their families.
Maybe, I have even thought similar thoughts in those places like: “that’s a beautiful tree”, “I love the sound of the river”, “I need to pick up eggs”, “this hill has a good vantage point”, etc.
These thoughts halt me and cause me to ponder how very similar we are, despite all of our differences and time in between: how, unknowingly at times, I trace footsteps of someone long ago.
Family Reunions
Who has attended a reunion this summer? Formal or informal.
Reunions retrace generational steps. We return to a home town: travel back to where many of our ancestors lived or gathered. In a sense, we step back in time. Remembering where and who we came from and celebrate that bond with family. We set our feet on property and land they once inhabited. We reminisce; summon our memory and remind each other.
Our actual footsteps, step inside footprints of former generations. We view sights they saw: land, mountains, roads, fields, home-places. There is a connection through sameness: they experienced this place, I experience this place. I sense who they were clearer and closer. Our bond is confirmed by revisiting where their life happened.
Footsteps can lead us places worth walking or warn us of places to avoid.
Either way, footsteps of the past, can speak to us today.
Whose Footsteps Do You Want To Walk In?
We all choose our steps in life. We hold a set of values or beliefs and walk them out.
As near and dear as relatives or historical figures may be, they are not the most important footsteps to me. I have chosen, since a young girl, to follow Jesus’ footsteps through life.
I have had the awesome experience of walking where Jesus’ physical feet trod; Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. To stand in a place and know Jesus walked there is about as overwhelming as life gets. It’s unforgettable and life changing.
But, the more important steps I take are DAILY.
Daily, I choose where my feet will go, which turns I will take, and who I will follow. If I don’t take steps, I’ll never follow. Or, if I take steps away from Jesus’ steps, I’m following something, someone else, or self-interests.
I need a reminder to watch my steps:
Have my steps today followed Jesus or taken steps in a different direction?
I’m not a perfect follower; that could never be, I’m incapable. Some days I have to adjust, change directions, or admit “today my steps could have been wiser, closer aligned” and recommit my steps.
Our steps take us through life.
Where have your steps taken you today, yesterday or this week? Is it the direction you’re committed to going? Any adjustments necessary?
Be kind to your feet/soul when your intended steps don’t match your ideal. God is full of grace toward you. Give yourself grace!
Whose steps did you walk in today? This summer?
Following,
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Elaine Stone 