Footprints, Not Monuments

William Faulkner talks about the need for footprints, not monuments. He explains that monuments are a statement that says ‘I got this far’. Footprints announce ‘this is where I was when I moved again’.

I want footprints to be the reflection of my life. I’m on a journey. I only arrive in the next life. A step at a time, I move forward. I don’t quite know what is around the corner, but with God’s help, I keep on the right path. It’s what Nietzsche and Peterson called a ‘long obedience in the same direction’. Long roads, mountain paths, obstacles and more. Finally the view from the top. It’s then that you know it was all worth it.

Ten Years Ago

I was meant to be there that day. I keep an email in my diary of the invitation to a meeting in New York on 11th September 2001. What’s more, the company I was visiting had offices in one of the towers.

I postponed the meeting. God knows the time and the hour, and for that I’m grateful. In the meantime, the email is a reminder of the transience of this life.

C S Lewis described this life as like the front cover and the title page of a book compared to what is to come. As Lewis says, one day I will begin Chapter One of the Great Story.