Fox-Walking
Guest Writer: Eve Turek
“Come, follow Me…” -Jesus (Mt. 4:19)
Fox tracks and sea oats
I have always defined “Christian” for myself as “Christ-follower.” I think of that phrase literally as well as spiritually.
In the mid-1980s, I became interested in animal tracks. I practiced identifying the tracks I saw in the sand. I tried to imagine how the animal might have moved, and where it paused or lengthened its stride from its footprints. I quickly learned obvious tracks like rabbit and mouse and raccoon. I puzzled over bug trails. I marveled at all the different tracks fanning out from a single ghost crab hole. But my favorite tracks belong to my favorite animal: fox.
Fox tracks have the unusual characteristic of almost always occurring in a straight line. Foxes’ normal gait exhibits a “perfect register” – their back paws land precisely where their front paws do, creating a single line of tracks. Their footprints speak to me of purpose and direction. I have tried to walk in a perfectly straight line. It’s not easy, especially in rough or uneven terrain. “Fox-walking” takes focus, concentration, and balance in the natural. “Christ-walking” takes all of that in the spirit.
So, what stride, direction, and pace do I strive to follow?
Simple, but not easy. Challenging and demanding both focus and balance, no matter the surrounding terrain of circumstance.
Love is what I strive to follow. The kind of love that says love God with all you are and have. Or use Bible words with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Love. The kind of love that says, love your neighbor as you would love yourself. And then, just so we don’t misunderstand, Love Himself gave us a story about “neighbor” being the least like us, the one we might more naturally despise or feel superior over. Love THAT one.
Love. The kind of love that says, love your enemies. (Really? You have got to be kidding! How does an ordinary person do that?!?) Yes, those parenthetical sentences sum up the arguments I have tried to have with God many times. Over the decades, I have found an answer: I ask for healing. I ask for a blessing. I ask for forgiveness, restoration, and better choices. I ask to see as God sees, as a loving parent sees, who wants only and always the best for every child.
I don’t, I’m sorry to say, always think in a perfect register. And I don’t always speak or walk in perfect register either. But I’m grateful to say I am very aware when I “step out of line.” The idea of “fox-walking after Jesus” informs every conversation I have, every decision I make, and all my choices. It will direct my vote in the upcoming election. I will not vote for hatred or division. Or for any candidate who advocates despising others for whatever reason. Are there perfect people, perfect candidates, a perfect nation? No. But I am determined to fox-walk, as best I can, in the life I have been granted, and for my part, that means trying with focus and balance to walk the walk of being a Christ-follower, not just talk the talk.
Eve Turek
Joanna Joannaseibert.com https://www.joannaseibert.com/