Footprints in the Sand

Many years ago when I was about 7 my family went to Oklahoma for the funeral one of my uncles. While there we visited for hours with Mom's family and toured around the town where she was born. One day while at my Aunt Olive's home my Uncle Edgar showed me his "book of poems". This book was a large three ring binder chock full of poems. Whenever Uncle Edgar found a poem he fancied he would recopy it and place it in this binder. One of the poems he read to me was "Footprints in the Sand". I liked it a lot and copied it down to begin my own book of poems. However, being a young child I thought that when he said this was "my book of poems" he meant just that, these were HIS poems.

Imagine my surprise several years later when I saw "Footprints" in a local Christian bookstore. I was shopping in a mall with a friend and ran over to the store. "Look! Look! That's my uncle's poem!" She was dubious and turns out she had a good reason to be, it was signed "anonymous".

Well now I thought I could help those poor folk out, after all I knew who wrote it and could even give them his address! Fortunately my mother was also with us and she explained things a little better. I turned red-faced and we left the mall.

Despite this beginning "Footprints" is still a favorite of mine and I want to share it with you. The picture is of my son's wet footprints as he emerged from the baptismal.

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”