Leaving Tracks

As I walked along today in my new shoes, which replaced the pair worn down by seven months of this pandemic journey, I came across this patch of sidewalk chalk the exact same color as my shoes. I walked past it, then turned around and came back. It struck me that it looked as if I had left a track behind, or that my bright blue shoes were leaking their color along the sidewalks of my neighborhood. If that were the case, it would not be hard to track a mammal of my size, especially while leaving bright blue tracks along the way.

But each of us, in various ways, do leave our tracks in the world. My mentor had a marvelous phrase he used about his congregation. He loved to make the rounds of the small town he served because he loved people and he loved sharing life with a wide range of neighbors. But he also loved to make the rounds because he would, as would often say, see “the footprints of his congregation all over town.” He loved to find that he wasn’t the first to call on a sick parishioner or volunteer in a community project or sign up to support a program at a local school. Seeing the “tracks” of his people affirmed his love for them. Seeing their tracks affirmed his faith in them.

Whether we know it or not - whether we like it or not - we leave our tracks, our mark, on the world. Fortunately, we get to decide what we leave behind us as we navigate our lives. What do we desire to be our mark upon our little corner of the world?

Would it not be wonderful if someday someone came across our tracks and saw them lead to acts of kindness and compassion? What if that which we leave behind us as we walk our path leads others who follow to acts of gentleness and peace in their own life? How exciting to think that we left a legacy of making the world a better place for our having passed through.

Jesus told his followers that the world would know his disciples by their love. I can’t imagine a better way to be known, or a better way to live. I hope I am leaving some tracks that are easy to follow, even if they don’t glow neon blue in the light of the rising sun. I hope I am leaving some tracks that point others in the way of love.

Peace.