What kind of footprints are you leaving behind?

When I was little I would choose the shoe I wanted purely on the pattern it had on the sole and the mark it would leave in the mud! I like footprints and recently in my prayers the thought of footprints has been in my mind - the whole idea that everything we do leaves a footprint these days.

Whether it be our physical footprint, the footprint we leave when we use our mobile or computer, the footprint we leave on the environment, our carbon footprint, the footprint we leave in other people's lives, the fact that we are walking in Jesus' footprints and leaving a God footprint on this earth…how deep is your footprint? What shape is it? What pattern does it show - is it clear for others to see? And has it been left in the right place? Did you stamp it in the ground out of frustration or out of determination and purpose? Are the footprints so faint because you are walking with no purpose? Are the footprints leading anywhere or are you going round in circles in your walk in life and your walk with God?

I love to think about my footprint, particularly when I am walking round the schools at lunch time doing detached. I leave footprints as I wander around the grounds as I walk where Jesus would have walked, alongside and in the midst of the lost. I leave footprints in everyone I meet. I don't mean I stamp on them, but the conversations I have with them, the way I act and respond and my whole attitude, leaves a footprint on them and my hope and prayer is that the footprint I leave is Jesus shaped. Think about what a Jesus shaped footprint would look like. I may be the only person who leaves a Jesus footprint on that person. I hope that others will leave footprints, but if I am the only one has it been a good one… one which encourages and gives hope rather than one which condemns and hurts? What God footprints are you leaving, how deep are they, what does the impression show, how was it made, and what was it made in?

God is watering the people in this town, he is making them soft and preparing them for the impact we can have on them by leaving a God footprint. Karen is finding children she is meeting with are so soft they are crying out for a God footprint. Where is the 'mud' in your life? Where are the soft people who want to be impressed? And where are the people who are dry and need prayer? When leaving footprints we have to be aware that we may not be the only one, or that we may just be the first person to leave an impression. It may not seem deep or clear but have faith and hope that someone else will leave a God footprint later on and it will be a bit deeper.

I have never 'converted' anyone. I have never said 'the prayer' with someone and been there when they have given their life to Jesus. This doesn't mean I have never left a God footprint though. I know that God uses whatever footprint I have made for His glory and He continues to work in the people I meet beyond anything I could do. I don't know where the people I talk to are in their walk to God, they may be almost there or they may be far away but my mission in life, my aim is to leave a God footprint that God wants me to leave.

What do your footprints look like? How deep, how clear, what impression and where are they?

Chrissie Lacey - Secondary Schools Worker for SCAt (Schools Christian Action Team)

Contact: Holy Trinity & St Saviour's Church, Trinity House, Trinity Road, Knaphill, Woking, Surrey GU21 2QY
Tel: (01483) 473489 e-mail: holy-trinity@tiscali.co.uk