Pastoral Ponderings—Tracks in the Snow
I’m one of the weird ones up here that LOVE’s snow! I’m not sure though, whether I find pristine, untrodden snow, or the story told by tracks in the snow more fun. We’ve not had a bunch of snow in recent years, but this year, the snow has been glorious! We’ve had in the neighborhood of 5-6” on the ground pretty much since the end of DEC, with several good snows since to freshen what’s on the ground, which I have been really enjoying. I’ve even been walking on the water like Jesus to try to be extra spiritual in the last few days—though I bet Jesus didn’t have to depend on the pond being frozen to allow for His memorable stroll!
Seeing the tracks in the snow has gotten me thinking along spiritual lines too. Tracks in the snow record not only who or what went where, but also often what happened. I just wish I could have seen the scene recorded on the ice of our pond where a deer was going across and slipped and fell! Probably not the most spiritual thing to enjoy a deer sprawling across the ice, but I certainly would have gotten a laugh out of it!
Try as you might, you can’t hide the story of the tracks in the snow, nor how often a particular path is trod. Even the tiniest of birds can’t get away with it! Do you think we might be more careful where we would go or frequent in our non-snowy lives, if our paths were as visible to the world as they are in the snow? What stories would such paths tell, both through where we go, but also where we frequent? What paths might we make that we might prefer to NOT have so visible to others?
Back in the day, when the old Methodist class meetings helped people be accountable for their spiritual growth, the question was asked of all each week, “How goes it with your soul? With as I understand it, a common follow up question being something like “where are you struggling with sin in your life?” What might happen in our lives and churches if we were to be that accountable in our faith these days? What difference would that make in what tracks we leave behind?
It’s not only Superman who has x-ray vision, or Santa Claus who “knows if you’ve been bad or good.” God is the one who invented that kind of thing—not to be invading our privacy, but to protect us from the damage done by lives of sin– “so be good, for goodness sake!” Because God always sees the trail we all leave! – Pastor Jim