Fingerprints-

September 1, 2011

Dear Ones,

Fingerprints, they are everywhere, some tiny as can be, some slightly larger but all of them quite small. I was walking through the house the other day and couldn’t help but smile as I saw the housekeeping ladies washing the lower parts of the windows for the third time that day- yes, they really do try to keep the prints off the windows and banisters. As they washed at one end of the glass, one of the little ones slid over to pull herself up on the window just behind where ayi had finished washing, leaving fresh palm prints as she began to walk her way down the glass. Funny, how something as simple as finger prints on the window starts your mind going in so many different directions. I began thinking about all those handprints, those that are seen and those that are unseen. The ones we choose to allow the children to put on the walls, and the ones that just end up there, and then there are the ones that they are putting on my heart…the little finger prints that leave indelible imprints deep into my very soul. The ones on the glass to my office where Quincy choose to bang to get my attention can easily be washed away, they will most likely be back next time he wants my attention but the ones that his little fingers have left on my heart will always be there as will the ones that each one of these precious children leave, the list of names run on and on. I was reminded of the sweet poem that so many of us have heard so often…you know the one,

Fingerprints

Author: Unknown

I know you get discouraged
because I am so small
and always leave my fingerprints
on furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing
I'll be grown up some day,
and all the smudges that I did
will surely fade away.

So here's another bunch of them
just so you can recall
exactly how my fingers looked
when I was very small.

Then I began to consider the Fingerprints of God…the works of his mighty hands and the fact that I cannot turn anywhere without seeing them. We are told in Psalm 19 that “the heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” Stars in the heavens bear His fingerprints and so do the little stars that I scoop up into my arms each day. Or what about the fact that I can rest assured in the knowledge that, “Thus says the Lord, The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, and you shall commit to Me the work of My hands. It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands and ordained all their host.” (Isaiah 45:11-12) I can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that each child here in our Big House bears the fingerprints of a loving heavenly Father, a creator God who knew every feature before time began. And that He knows them each and everyone, they are inscribed on the palms of His hands, an ever present reminder before Him- just like the fingerprints all around that remind me of some very precious little ones who are moment by moment teaching me the lessons my Heavenly Father has chosen to place before me.

With love and prayers for each of you,

Mariah