I have always loved tracks in the snow. Whole stories and life patterns can be pieced together by recognizing tracks and their interaction with each other.
Last winter, I watched a young hawk having a fine lunch of blue jay out under the tree in the backyard.
But even if I had not witnessed it, the blood, feathers, and markings from the hawk’s tail feathers would read like a book.
Some things are just evident by the traces they leave behind.
Tuesday, I was walking back over to the house when I glanced down and saw the tiniest of feathers on the sidewalk.
It wasn’t much bigger than a half-inch long, but the top of it was brilliant crimson, and I knew a cardinal had been there.
One of the beautiful opportunities we have as Christians is to leave our traces behind in the lives we touch each day.
Ephesians 1:12 says that we were “destined and appointed to live for the praise of His glory.”
And Ch. 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
We did not become Christians to sit back and twiddle our thumbs and wait for heaven!
Our Father made us his children in Jesus to walk in good works. And according to the passage, he has already prepared those good works for us to walk in!
Where are they?
I believe that all we need to do is open our eyes to the lives and needs of those around us, and those good works will become clear.
Over and over again, you see Jesus quietly reaching out with compassion and love and serving those around him, and he left an impact on every one of their lives.
The blind man, the lame man, the leper, the widow of Nain, and the list goes on. In every one of their lives, there was a trace of the love and compassion of the Lord left in each of them.
The traces we leave in other people’s lives may not be as visible as even the tiniest feather because they are traces left in the hearts of those we serve.
But if they are left with the love and compassion of Jesus and the memory of what a child of God did for them, we will have fulfilled our ministry and walked in those good works that your Father has prepared for us.
1 John 5:1 RSV
