What you don’t see still shapes you. Habits, character, faith, resentment, love and fear. You can’t hold them in your hand or measure them with a yardstick, but you can see where they have walked.
Habits determine outcomes and character determines direction. Faith steadies a man when the wind picks up. Resentment poisons swiftly while love builds quietly. Fear shrinks a person before he ever takes that first step. These forces are invisible, but the tracks they leave are unmistakable.
Here is the hard truth: it cuts both ways. Unspoken bitterness leaves footprints. Neglect and excuses also leave footprints. Even silence can leave a mark. You don’t get to opt out of the impact left behind. Whether you intend to or not, you are pressing something into the ground behind you.
I chalked a bright sun on the board this morning. Sunlight creates shadows, but shadows disappear when the light moves. The shade from the sun shifts by the minute, footprints don’t. The impressions you leave through your habits, your character, your love, your faith... those can last decades.
That is the difference between a moment and a legacy.
Today is Presidents Day. My favorites are Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Different eras with different styles and different controversies.
Not one of them was invisible. They believed in something, acted on it, and left trails the country still walk on today... for better or worse.
The sun will move.
The shadows will fade, but what you press into the earth will remain after you are done breathing.
Enjoy this gorgeous gift of Monday February 16th, 2026.
Today is Lundi Gras, tomorrow is Mardi Gras and for the Catlicks, Ash Wednesday follows on Humpday.
Laissez les bons temps rouler...
