When we’re overwhelmed by many demands, it might feel as though there isn’t enough of God, or good, to go around. Or it might seem as if some people receive more of God’s love than others.
The loved poem “Footprints in the sand” begins by explaining how the Lord was walking along the shoreline, right next to the narrator of the poem. The narrator looks back at the two sets of footprints, representing the path of her life. But she noticed it appeared that the Lord had left her in times of trouble, because she saw only one set of footprints in those places. Troubled, the narrator asks the Lord about it. The reply is that His love has always been with her—the footprints she saw during those difficult times were actually His as He carried her through the struggle.
Recently, I was pondering God’s presence and watching actual footprints in the sand. The tide was coming in and going out. It occurred to me that not only does God carry us in difficult times, but divine Love also fills us up no matter what our specific needs are.
Mary Baker Eddy confirms this idea in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures when she writes, “The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space. That is enough!” (p. 520).
When walking along the beach, some make deep prints, some wide, some shallow, but regardless of the size of our prints, the tide gently pours water in over every single footprint evenly, filling up the deep ones, enveloping the wide ones, and covering the shallow or narrow ones. The tide doesn’t have to take from one print and give to another, and it doesn’t avoid one part of the shoreline to take care of another. The water ceaselessly flows across those prints.
This process symbolizes each of our individual struggles being healed. When one person feels loved or experiences healing, it doesn’t mean that another suffers or is left out. God’s love is ever present and available to all of us every moment of every day, just as the tide covers each and every footprint in the sand.
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