Whose Footsteps Are You Walking

There is an old saying: “Follow in their footsteps.” It sounds noble. Inspiring. Safe. If we admire someone a parent, a mentor, a saint we want to walk where they walked.

But here is the deeper truth: the thing about following in someone else’s footsteps is that they are someone else’s footsteps.

They were made for a different soul. A different calling. A different set of struggles, graces, and circumstances. They fit the shape of their life — not yours.

As we journey through Lent, that truth becomes especially important.

Lent is not a season of imitation. It is a season of transformation. Yes, we look to the saints. We look to St. Francis in his poverty, St. Teresa in her prayer, St. Maximilian Kolbe in his sacrifice. We are inspired by them. We are strengthened by their witness.  

But God did not create you to be Francis, Teresa, or Kolbe.

He created you to be you.

The saints are not templates to copy; they are lights that show us what holiness looks like in every possible human expression. Each saint’s footsteps were carved by a unique path shaped by personality, weakness, sin, redemption, and surrender. And God delighted in each of those paths.

The same is true for you.

God has already given you your own footsteps.

Your personality.

Your history.

Your wounds.

Your talents.

Your family.

Your struggles.

These are not accidents. They are the terrain of your holiness.

Lent invites us not to squeeze our feet into someone else’s sandals, but to ask: Am I walking the path God has prepared for me? Sometimes we hesitate. We think holiness looks like someone else’s life more dramatic, more visible, more extraordinary. But most sanctity is quiet. Hidden. Faithful in small things. A father who prays when he is tired. A grandmother who forgives when it is hard. A young adult who chooses integrity when no one would know otherwise.

Your footsteps toward God may not look impressive to the world. But if they are walked with love, humility, and surrender, they are beautiful to Him.

This is what makes Lent so personal.

When we fast, when we pray, when we give alms, we are not performing a spiritual routine. We are clearing the path in front of our feet. We are removing what weighs us down. We are asking God to strengthen our stride. And here is the heart-tugging truth: the final chapter of your life is still unwritten. One day, you and I will take our final step on this earth. We will leave behind the footprints of our choices where we walked, what we pursued, whom we loved, how we forgave. And we will meet the One who walked beside us the entire time.

Not asking why we weren’t someone else.

But asking if we allowed Him to shape the steps He gave us.

Lent is not about becoming a copy of another holy person. It is about becoming the fullest version of the person God dreamed into existence when He created you.

Walk your path.

Carry your cross.

Use your gifts.

Surrender your sins.

And trust that the footsteps God has given you are exactly the ones that will lead you home.

When the time comes to leave this earth, may we meet Him not as an imitation of someone else but as the faithful, surrendered, uniquely beloved child He created us to be.

Blessings,

Deacon Mike