The Singing Scoutmaster: Footprints in the Mud

It had just rained the night before the Cub Scout hike. The trail was damp, the leaves slick, and the air smelled of pine and wet earth. As the Scouts walked carefully along the path, one Cub named Eli pointed to a trail of animal prints in the soft mud.

"Look!" he said. "A deer must have passed this way." Another Scout spotted raccoon prints, and another saw what might have been a fox. As they walked, they realized that the mud held a record of everything that had passed—animals, bikes, even boot prints from other hikers.

When they reached the clearing for lunch, their Den Leader asked, "What do all those prints mean to you?" The Scouts had lots of answers: "Animals live here," "We're not alone in the woods," "It's like a story in the mud."

The Den Leader nodded. "Everywhere we go, we leave footprints—on the trail, and in people's lives. Just like the animals, we leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want to leave? A muddy mess? Or something kind, something helpful?"

The Scouts thought for a moment. Eli smiled and said, "I want to leave good prints. The kind someone else sees and feels better because I was there."

That day, the Cub Scouts learned that whether on a trail or in a friend's heart, our actions leave a path. Let's make sure ours are footprints worth following.