Fingerprints

“You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me..”

Psalm 139:5 NIV

Do you have any surfaces in your home that are made of glass? If only window panes, I know that you have had times when you have gotten out the glass cleaner and cloths to wash smudges and smears from these transparent panels. Have you ever noticed that some of the hardest things to remove are fingerprints?

I have a toddler and I have, count them, four, glass top tables in my home; three of them are in the family room. Now, you may ask, what in the world possessed you to have three glass top pieces of furniture in your family room with a toddler?! (Possessed being the operative word here) The answer is quite simple; we had the furniture first. We just have not gotten around to replacing them yet. My son loves to play with his toys on the largest of the tables which inevitably leaves his signature marks. His favorite time to play is, you guessed it, while I am trying to clean.

Just this week I was on my knees, a great position to clean; you can ask for strength at the same time, and my son was right behind every swipe of the cloth. It was as if he was seeing me as some big eraser of a masterpiece of his creating. I stopped my cleaning and looked into his precious face and said, “Please let Mommy finish cleaning these prints off before you put more of them on.” Of course, this had no affect on his persistence but those words left my mouth and pierced straight through to my own heart. How many times has God tried to say the same thing to me?

Think about this for a minute; what leaves fingerprints on you; others’ bad habits, television and movie programs, questionable friends? All of these things influence your life in one form or another, but do you allow them to “imprint” or change you? Time after time I know that I have come to God asking for forgiveness or help to change a behavior only to be side tracked by something else right away. I now can hear God saying, “Now Faith, Please let me clean these prints off before you replace them with others.” It dawns on me that I have just replaced a masterpiece with a cheap copy of my own creating!

Our scripture states that God has laid His hand upon me. In other words, God’s fingerprints are all over me! Why would I ever want to replace them with a masterwork created by other’s influence? Why would I want to erase the very signature of the Master Artist?

I want to encourage you the next time that something or someone crosses your life’s path that has disputable characteristics, remember that thing or person has fingerprints that are just waiting to get all over you to leave their mark or claim. Although God does have the cleanser, stop and ask yourself, “Why would I want to replace the Hand of God with a cheap copy?” You are His masterpiece, a one of a kind original and He has laid His hand on you to stake His claim. He has even signed His name in red.

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