Here of late, I’ve been educating the non-Catholics I know of the Footprints in the Sand poem….
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?”
The Lord replied,
“The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.”
While it is a beautiful sentiment and something in my heart I do believe, my cynical self says “Lord, it’s been tough. Children are abused, molested, killed. Quakes, hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes are killing thousands of people. People are suffering from cancer, etc. Where are you, Lord? And please don’t give me that footprints in the sand garbage.”
Funny, that I’m the one (yes, me the loud mouth, unsocial bitch) that has kept my faith that all will be well with our son. While my good Catholic boy husband says that God has forsaken him along with his parents and sister in heaven who aren’t helping Andrew. Sometimes God doesn’t always make things easy and He sometimes can’t give us what we ask for…we just have to keep the faith and trust that everything will be okay. And we surely can’t be angry at dead relatives who while I truly believe they are in heaven….can’t change our fate or lot in life. It’s always the well educated, devout religious folks who have the hardest time keeping faith when life gets tough and me, the poor white trash from Illinois, leading the band as the ship goes down.
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