Footprints in the Sand

Running is a great metaphor, and running in the sand even more so. Today as I was jogging along the beach by the sea, I thought about how, even when I set a goal, I always take it one step at a time. If I take this one step and concentrate on that, then I have the possibility of taking the next step and I don’t think about the details of what’s ahead. That seems like a pretty good way to approach life. We might think we will be at a certain point in the future – or in the distance – but we really don’t know what will happen - actually all we can really be sure of is the step we are taking right now.

So I take the steps and keep going as long as I can – sometimes its easy, sometimes it’s hard. I might need to have a break and take a breather, sometimes I might need to stop altogether. Sometimes I have to divert off the path I intended to go, take steps to move in a different direction, or to avoid an obstacle in my path. Mostly I meet my goals, sometimes I go beyond them and occasionally I fall short. But no matter, because at some point I will start again and take some

more steps. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps another day, maybe in the same place, maybe somewhere else. All that really matters is that I keep taking the steps. One at a time. And with each one, everything is possible.

Then I thought about my footprints in the sand. They showed the path I had taken, they are my journey, but when the sea comes in they will be washed away, they will disappear from sight. It doesn’t matter though does it? Because they are in the past and it is only me that needs to know that was my path.

Washed away... but not in memory

Today I ran alone, in the past I have shared that run with someone by my side. And it made me think about how much pleasure there is in creating that path together, when your steps intertwine and create beautiful patterns in the sand. Those footprints disappear too, but each knows they took that journey together, regardless of what might happen in the future - and no wave can ever wash away the deep and lasting impression in memory, of the joy and love that was felt in creating them.

I’m looking forward to making many more footprints in the sand…