Animals leave distinctive tracks, a record of where they have walked. Similarly, each human life, no matter how obscure, leaves evidence behind. When our feet stop and our voices cease, what is the track record of our travels in this life? What evidence will each of us leave behind?
Note: These are just a few of the stones I have found at Mystery Acres. An expert, just from this photo, confirmed at least six are “prehistoric stone tools.” I have dozens more.
My Mysterious Mind
People have lived in the area currently known as the United States of America for a very long time. My husband and I enjoy visiting places previously occupied by native people, especially cliff dwellings including Manitou Springs, Montezuma’s Castle, and Bandelier National Monument. For me, the most memorable was Walnut Canyon National Monument. After descending a steep set of stairs from the visitor center, we walked along a trail around the side of a peninsula, with the dwellings of native people built into the middle of the cliff wall. The dramatic danger of the location, imagining mothers with small children, wrestled from plunging to their deaths, combined with the intimacy of being so close to their homes. The marks of their hands, shaping the surface of the walls, are still clearly evident, preserved for centuries.
I also love museums; possibly my favorite is the one on Ellis Island where approximately 12 million immigrants entered what is now the United States. In operation for about 60 years, Ellis Island as an immigration center closed in 1954. It is estimated that 40% of Americans, or roughly 137 million people, can trace their lineage to an ancestor who arrived through Ellis Island. Though the museum preserves a registry of every immigrant, the most powerful evidence of the people who traveled through Ellis Island are the millions of their descendants. The track record of Ellis Island has 137 million sets of footprints and counting.
The native people who left their handprints at Walnut Canyon and most of the hopeful masses who were processed through Ellis Island are no longer alive, but their time among us left behind evidence. The same will be true for each of us; at some point our travels here will end. Like a tourist map, today will shift from “You are Here” to “You were Here.” Your time will leave a track record, evidence you leave behind.
The words you spoke will have echoes in the people still alive.
The lives you touched will leave fingerprints on their hearts.
The organizations which you had been a part of will be different because you were there.
There will be evidence that you were here. Will your words echo in pleasant ways? Will the fingerprints you leave on others be good? In your absence, will the organizations be better because of your time there? What kind of track record will you leave behind?
Message of Mystery Acres
It has been almost two hundred years since any native Americans visited Mystery Acres. The evidence of their long-ago occupation is limited to four marker trees and an assortment of stone tools. In the adjacent acreage we know of three additional marker trees and the discovery of numerous broken arrowheads.
There is evidence of other human visitors to the land before we purchased it. We have found cans, bottles, and old barbed wire. Almost every walk along the gravel road will reveal at least one discarded beer can.
Through the woods there are game trails, nature’s highways for the animals. Along these routes we have found a small number of deer antlers or turtle shells. Walking via these paths is easier, with less obstruction of the undergrowth.
Our presence at Mystery Acres has substantially changed about an acre of the 17-plus total we own. We have added a circle drive, a 100-foot clearing, a pad and motorhome, and a metal building. There is also a small cabin, a firepit, and a planter of wildflowers. Two people in six years have altered the forest more than generations of native people.
The land stores a track record, evidence left by those who have passed through. The tools of native people were not trash they left behind, but stones they returned to the places from which the stones were taken. In time the trees will die and decay, removing the evidence of the people who once cherished this place. Like the animals, the “tracks” of indigenous people are evidence of those who lived with respect for the land.
What a contrast to the complicated, stuff-encrusted lifestyle of modern people. What we think is progress will just be trash to the forest. Using aluminum, tin, plastic, or glass for storage, our containers don’t return to nature like the animal skins and pottery of “primitive” humans. Does this make us more, or less, advanced than our predecessors?
The message of Mystery Acres cautions us to reflect on the tracks we leave behind. Travelers through the forest leave evidence of their journey. Does this testimony of our presence speak to honoring the places we’ve been, or does it cry of disrespect for the land and disregard for the future people who will utilize it? What is our track record?
Ancient Mystery’s Voice
“Israel served the Lord during Joshua’s life and the elders who outlived him.” (see Joshua 24:31)
I have officially been studying leadership for almost thirty years, unofficially for much longer. My studies have included leaders for whom I have worked, leadership theories, and leadership fables. I have contemplated various leaders whose lives are documented in the Bible, the great and the terrible. All of what I have learned can be summarized in two words: Leadership matters.
Every person leaves tracks; the tracks of leaders can be found over large areas, such as organizations, tribes, and nations. When an organization is hurting, the leader is either a source of the pain or a key to recovery. For healthy families, the well-being of many members can be traced to the parents or grandparents. Leadership matters and leaders leave a legacy as their track record. Sometimes good; sometimes horrible.
The Bible, especially the Old Testament, is full of leadership stories. The books of Chronicles and Kings record multiple generations of leaders, most of whom “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” The people of Israel suffered under the leadership of their evil kings. Even King David, who is described as a “man after God’s own heart” had some terrible chapters in his leadership saga.
The noteworthy exception is Joshua. Throughout the 24 chapters of the book about him there is no mention of the people suffering because of his leadership. Instead, the story of Joshua’s leadership ends with a summary about his legacy, one that extends beyond the days of his life. Not only did the people serve the Lord while Joshua was their leader, but his influence also continued throughout the lives of the elders who outlived him. In death Joshua left the people, and those who had served with him continued his leadership beyond his departure.
The words of Ancient Mystery compel us to consider the legacy of our leadership in the lives of people. Does the way we lead inspire others to serve the Lord or reject Him? When our lives end, will the track record we leave behind extend through the tracks of those who walked with us? The people for whom Joshua served as leader served the Lord; and those who led in his place followed in his footsteps. That is an incredible track record, one worthy of our aspirations.
Living in Mystery
What does it mean to live in the mystery of track records, contemplating the evidence each of us will leave behind? First it means realizing that you are leaving tracks; it is impossible to travel through life without leaving evidence you were here. Resources consumed, people impacted, and spaces inhabited all confirm the reality of your existence.
Second, awareness of leaving a record of our time here calls for each of us to minimize our negative footprint. We must use resources to live; how can we do so with minimal debris left behind? Our words and actions will impact others; how can we mend the damage of our careless words or selfish actions? The spaces in which we live and work will be different because we were there; how can we leave these spaces without having destroyed anything? Travel carefully and wisely, aware of your continuous impact.
Next, you can think beyond minimizing your trail of damage and seek to maximize your positive footprint. In other words, leave it better than you found it. This can be a motto for time serving in leadership roles or in employment tasks. Try to improve everything you “touch.” After every conversation, no matter how trivial, does the other person feel better for having interacted with you? If a workplace or organization changed because of your presence there, is it better because of you? More than cleaning up after yourself, maximizing your positive footprint calls for leaving a trail of improvement.
Beyond the tangible and observable, what is the feeling you leave behind in people and spaces? The native people who once used Mystery Acres left behind their stone tools and a few shaped trees, but they also left a pervasive, sacred feeling. The land remembers they were there and emanates a peaceful presence from their reverence. When you leave a space, what feeling lingers after you are gone? This invisible track record is evidence each of us leave behind.
As an old mom to young parents, I encourage you to consider how your influence will outlive you through the actions of your children. Is your “leadership” continued through the way your children live? Is the impact of your life, as echoed in your children, one of minimizing the negative and maximizing the positive? Each footstep matters. Every word is important. All actions leave a track record, evidence of your parenting. It is impossible to parent perfectly. Impossible. Furthermore, children might go their own way despite a parent’s best efforts. But it is crucial for parents to live in ways worth imitating. If your children follow in your footsteps, where will that path lead them?
Your life produces a track record, evidence you leave behind. Your words and actions outlive you in the people who live with you but continue beyond you. Will your track record be a path worth following or a trail of destruction? Minimize the negative impact of your time among us, while seeking wherever possible to leave what and who you touch better than you found them. Ponder how the land will remember you were here, emanating a sense of how you lived. Leave behind a track record worth imitating.
Connecting with Mystery
Dear Lord of All Mystery, I confess to sometimes ignoring the tracks I am leaving in the lives of others and in the places I live and work. Help me to minimize the negative impact of my journey, while, whenever possible, leaving a better path than the one onto which I stepped. Thank You for providing examples worth following, such as the track record of Joshua. May my life outlive me through others following in my footsteps as I strive to walk closer to You. Amen.
Notes from Dr. Mac
If you want to do your own investigation of any of the scriptures I use, I suggest you go to Bible Gateway. This free online version of the Bible allows a search of words or phrases in various translations. I encourage you to read the book of Joshua, especially the first and last chapters.
Do you want more from my writing? I have three years of previous posts, which you can find at my ARCHIVE. My very first post, from May 8, 2022, is Turn the Page. I have topically organized compilations of some of my previous work in the My Books section. And Mystery’s Voice is on Spotify.
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