We went for a walk, my niece, the dog, two boys on bikes, and me.

The worms were out, scattered across the sparkling, just-rained-on driveway like the longest pink eraser shavings you've ever seen.

We walked, and they curled and uncurled themselves in the sun, seeming to have come from nowhere and with nowhere to go.

Then I saw all the little trails behind them, crissing and crossing over the packed gravel.

A labyrinth of the past. A record of paths intersected.

And I realized that's how my own past looks, crissed and crossed and scattered and directed by the steps and the influence of others.

No matter how alone and uninfluential we might seem, our lives and our actions do make a difference to the ones around us.

Someone is watching.

Someone is listening.

And perhaps their rise or fall will be based on our own.

"I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." (Psalm 16:8)

Live above reproach.