Footprints

When my boys were in grade school I volunteered to help the teachers. One of the most memorable tasks was helping the kindergarteners walk through green paint and make footprints on paper. It took two of us, one to walk the child carefully and place their feet neatly, and another to clean off the feet before they escaped and there were green feet all over the classroom.

The volunteers would come one day a week and do whatever tasks were requested by the teachers. There were days of cutting out letters for bulletin board displays; collating pages to create work packets; and occasional days of working with the children in the classroom. Teachers needed and still do need all the extra hands they can get.

The footprints activity reminds me of the poem, "Footprints in the Sand."

"On night I dreamed a dream. As I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, You'd walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, Never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you.""

The poem is credited to Mary Stevenson, Margaret Fishback Powers or Carolyn Joyce Carty, though typically signed, "Author Unknown." All three women have registered copyrights for the poem, according to the web.

Unlike this poem, footprints are as individual as the foot that makes them. Only one can claim the fame. God knows where this poem originated and that is Who matters. The beauty of the poem's image has blessed countless people and perhaps strengthened their faith along the way. Just as the green painted footprints represent the life of the children who made them, the footprints in the sand remind us of our constant companion in life, Jesus Christ.