Now imagine you and the Lord
walking down the road together.
For much of the way, the Lord's
footprints go along steadily,
consistently, rarely varying the pace.
But your prints are a
disorganized stream of zigzags,
starts, stops, turnarounds,
circles, departures and returns.

For much of the way
it seems to go like this.
But gradually, your footprints
come more in line with the Lord's,
soon paralleling His consistently.
You and Jesus are walking as true friends.

This seems perfect, but then
an interesting thing happens:
your footprints that once etched the
sand next to the Master's
are now walking precisely in His steps.
Inside His larger footprints
is the small "sandprint",
safely enclosed. You
and Jesus are becoming one.

This goes on for many miles.
But gradually you notice
another change. The footprint
inside the larger footprint
seems to grow larger.
Eventually it disappears
altogether. There is
only one set of footprints.
They have become one.
Again, this goes on for a long time.
But then something awful happens.
The second set of footprints
is back. And this
time it seems worse.
Zigzags all over the place.
Stops. Starts.
Deep gashes in the sand.
A varitable mess of prints.

You're amazed and shocked.
But this is the end of your dream.
Now you speak
. "Lord, I understand the first scene
with the zigzags and fits
and starts and so on.
I was a new Christian
, just learning.
But You walked on through the storm and
helped me learn to walk with you."

"That is correct."

"Yes, and when the smaller footprints
were inside of Yours,
I was actually learning to walk
in Your steps. I followed
You very closely."

"Very good. You have
understood everything so far."
"Then the smaller footprints
grew and eventually
filled in with Yours. I
suppose that I was actually
growing so much that I was
becoming like you in every way."

"Precisely."

"But this is my question. Lord...
Was there a regression or something?
The footprints went back to two,
and this time it was worse than the first."

The Lord smiles, then laughs.
"You didn't know?"
He says. "That was when we danced."

-source unknown-