A Thursday for your Thoughts: Watch what you leave behind

Guest Writer-Jennifer Horner

 Watch what you leave behind

Have you ever had one of those days where you work so hard to make your house look nice and tidy only to find it destroyed a mere minute after completion?   Well this just happens to be one of my biggest pet peeves. Oh yeah, mean momma comes out when my kids track in mud, grass burrs and throw clothes on the floor.  I love a sense of accomplishment and I have to be honest, house work does not do it for me!

So imagine my surprise when I was AMUSED the other day when I found these ashy footprints all over my hard wood floors.  Normally I would have been steaming, one for the mess my husband made by cleaning out the fireplace and two for the mischievous daughter who HAD to walk through it.

When I happened upon these little prints, it warmed my heart and I felt compelled to take pictures.  I wanted to remember these little feet for some reason.  I could see everywhere she had gone after stepping in the ashes, around the kitchen table, back into the ashes, then to her room.

This reminded me about the footprints we leave behind in life.  Everywhere we go, everything we do, we leave a part of ourselves behind for others to remember.

These prints can be as simple as remembering a face you have seen at Wal-Mart, or as significant as seeing a stranger give his life to save a child in the street.  They can be a positive reminder about how sweet life can be or a bitter memory that causes, hate, pain, and anger.

Some prints will blow away with the wind and be forgotten, while others will turn to stone, forever etched in our memory. 

One of my favorite poems is “Footprints in the Sand”.  It always gives me chills when the man asks Jesus why during the hard times of his life he only saw one set of footprints and Jesus’ reply was, “That is when I carried you!”

We cannot control how others will receive what we leave behind, like the man in the poem didn’t receive Jesus’ action for what it was, an act of love, but we can control whether our actions are positive or negative.

You see, we get to decide what our actions are going to be in life-

How we react to a grumpy bank clerk,

the quality time we spend with our kids,

 what we say we we’ve been hurt.

We have a choice to join in on the world’s sins

 or stand apart and stand for Christ.

 All our choices, all our actions will leave something behind.

What are you going to leave behind?

 

Jennifer Horner is my baby sister.  This is her second time to guest blog on God's Girlies.  (This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.)   If you feel lead to share a story or your thoughts for a future Thursday send me an email.  If you don't feel lead, let me know and I'll try and talk you into writing something anyway.  There's something about  being open and vulnerable that forges friendships.

kristiburden@gmail.com

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