Footsteps of Jesus

As I stepped out the front door this morning, Phoebe, Zeke, Barney and the new stray met me, ready for the walk. After passing out treats, we set out through the hayfield. The dogs led the way, following the path worn in the grass. Sabbath Rest Farm is crisscrossed with animal highways, paths worn by deer hooves, racoons, dogs, cats, cows and bears. I am always fascinated with the direction of these pathways.
Some seem to follow the contours of the land, the path of least resistance. Others clearly lead to water or to the woods. Paths that meander with no obvious rhyme or reason intersect other paths and a land jigsaw puzzle emerges. Here a bear beds down. There the deer graze in the field or on the hill below the high barn. The clay path in the high pasture runs near the woods and the cows travel this as they move down the hill.
This morning as I walked, I called the cows to follow me to the low pasture for their feed. Fanny led the way, walking on my heels. As we passed through the gate, she took the lower cow path and I walked through the grass. Junie B came running and settled in next to my shoulder, keeping pace with me. We slipped and slid down the wet red clay hill path to the low pasture and made our way to the feed trough. Everyone found their way with Ferdinand the gentle giant coming up last. The hay I had put out last night was gone so I decided to let them graze the farm today. Our hay supply is running out and the grass is green and growing outside the pastures. I will be leaving for a few days and will need to leave a generous hay supply for the cows so this will help conserve hay. As I walk, I ponder the pathmaking in my life. Like the paths on the farm, the paths in my life often meander without any visible purpose or destination.
This writing path I am walking just happened one day. I had no plan, no dreams of being a writer. The first time I shared what I wrote, I held my breath and prayed "Please don’t let me sound stupid, Lord" as I hit the send button. Some read and asked to be kept on the list. Others asked to be taken off. And it was o.k. The writing path was not to show how smart I was but shows me how to pay attention to God in my life.
The music path, begun as a twelve year old girl who yearned to play the piano, enriches my soul still. I sing and whistle and play the piano. Hymns spring to my lips as I do housework. I hear God singing in the birdsongs that wake me in the morning. Sometimes when I hear just the right music at just the right time, I am lifted up to a higher plane, a place near to the heart of God.
The Christian path continues to grow wider and narrower, steeper and more level, easier and more difficult as I age. As a child I committed my life to the Jesus way and that one decision has informed my life ever since. I have not always been a perfect Christian. I, like Fanny on the steep red clay hill, slip and slide from time to time. But I hold on, grab a branch, straighten up and get back on the path.
This path leads me to God’s heart. Sometimes I catch glimpses of God’s presence on the path much like I catch long distance views of faraway mountains from the Sound of Music hill on the farm. And once in a great while, the Illuminating Effervescent Love surrounds me as I walk in sunlight or shadow. My heart leaps up in joy and I sing praise to my Creator. For sixty one years pathways have twisted and turned, gone to unforseen destinations, led through dark shadows and bright sunlight. Always, always, God has been there. When I could not see or feel the Presence on the path, God was there. I am never alone.
The old hymn says "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard thee calling, Come follow me! And we see where thy footprints falling lead us to thee. Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus where’er they go." I follow paths created by my brother Jesus and others who have gone before me. And sometimes I find myself on a path of my own creating, carving new patterns into the landscape surrounding my faith. I am often walking through the unknown dark places but I am never alone. Jesus’ footsteps glow in the path I have chosen and I give thanks.
"I will lead the blind in a way they know not, in paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them." Isaiah 42:16