Heelmarks in the Sand

NEW! Now you can listen to the author read this essay HERE


Most of us are familiar with the poem "Footprints in the Sand." It's been printed on plaques, plates, and cards. It's been laminated, lacquered, printed, published and painted. It is a great work of writing and has brought hope, comfort and encouragement, no doubt, to many, many thousands of people.

Here's the original version of the poem: "Footprints in the Sand," by Carolyn Joyce Carty

Tonight I was standing outside a school building, talking with parents, students, teachers and board members as we gathered to reach out for one another one more time to reconnect. The school was closed, temporarily, and classes combined with another school one town over.

As I talked to one of the parents, he mentioned something about following the will of God and His leading. At that moment, it hit me. Very, very little of my life could be described in painting or in poetry as two sets of footprints walking side by side down the beach. Those times when there was only a single set of tracks, it is true, mark the parts where God carried me along. Okay, I get that.

However, the image of God carrying me is often imagined as God cradling me in His strong arms like a parent carries an infant child. Beautiful!

I have an idea that sometimes, God has had to knock me once over the head to stun me, and then pick me up and throw me over one strong shoulder in a classic Fireman's Carry.

Back to the two sets of tracks. Two sets of footprints, walking together side by side? Rarely. Yes, God's footprints are steady, evenly measured, straight and true. When they change direction, it is a clear, purposeful turn. Of course. God knows where He's going, and He knows what He is doing. I know that I want to go along with God, but I frequently become distracted by things along the way and I want to go over and take a closer look, much the way my dog wanted to go for a walk in his own way, very different from the pace and path that I had in mind.

And occasionally, those tracks in the sand become really crazy. There's one set of footprints, but they've turned around and they are going backward. Between them, and sometimes over the top of the tracks, are two roughly parallel grooves carved into the sand.

I asked the Lord to explain those curious tracks.

He turned toward me, cupped His strong hand under my chin and turned my face directly toward Him, and said,

"My child, it was there that I dragged you."