Walking along the shore today, peacefully taking in the rhythmic sounds of the waves, the beauty of the brilliant gray sky, the colorful tumbled stones upon the shore…

The young people ahead of me were laughing and enjoying themselves and just then a sneaky wave wrapped round my ankles. As I looked down the footprints in front of me were swept away. In an unexpected instant they were gone. And it came to me that the marks we make on this world are fleeting.

It stopped me in my tracks – I had to capture this for you, for me.

Are the marks I’m leaving lasting? Or will they fade away?

When we come to the end of our lives, don’t we want to know that we’ve made an impact in this life, one that will last after we pass? But as I look around at crumbling cliffs and waning footprints, I think of falling towers and unsinkable ships that sank… 

Who was the builder of the great ship? Who the architect of the twin towers? Anything made by human hands will one day fall, one day fail. I wonder if the ones who put form to their dreams knew that. I wonder what things I’ve fashioned in hopes of solidifying that “I too, wuz here.” 

And as I stood staring at the once again smoothed sand before me, I knew it wouldn’t matter…

What does God has to say about a lasting legacy?

1 Corinthians 13:13 says “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Abide – to be held, kept continually, to remain. Faith, hope and love remain, when all else fades away. Only God could come up with a concept like the intangible lasting and the tangible disintegrating. I wonder if it’s because He knows we’d spend our lives making “our mark” instead of living the lives He created us for. (Deeper thought for another time.)

So, what if we believed God and lived our lives according to the faith Jesus gave us, facing the future, even when it’s daunting, with hope, and just love people well? How would our footprints be seen long after we are gone?

Life lived marked with faith in Jesus changes the course of our family for generations to come, as well as secures our eternal destination. (That’s lasting!)

Life lived marked with hope of eternal life, especially through difficult times, shines as a beacon and inspires and encourages other in their journey.

Life lived marked by sacrificial love that Jesus has for us, changes not only us, but the lives of everyone around us. Love poured from Him into our life, then into another’s, lives on and on. Forever and ever. 

Our faith, hope and love leave an indelible, enduring and everlasting mark. One that will not succumb to waves nor wind nor time. But rather, woven intricately together into God’s grand and beautiful design.

Dedicated to my Dad, on what would have been his 83rd birthday. 

I have been marked by his life, and his legacy of love for God and others lives on…