Fingerprints & Joy

One thing I love about life is people. You know how there are some scientists that will say they never believed in God until one day they were just struck with the intricacy of a plant cell: the mitochondria, lysoplasts and so forth – that it was just obvious that there was an intelligent designer.

Or astronomers studying the stars all night long – one night look up and don't see balls of burning gases – instead they a tapestry of constellations strewn like sugar across an inky canvas. And they just know – that there was a creator who made this sight – just for them.

For me, its people. I think my at times debilitating love for people comes from my stumbling upon the fingerprints of God on his creations.

(In my mind that is prone to creating elaborate images – I imagine the Potter with rough hands & dirt under his fingernails, creating the world and eating a really messy PB&J sandwich at the same time. Between bites he's separating the sky from the water from the land. Another bite; he's now making pomegranates, avocados and coffee. One more; sunsets, the feathers of peacocks and the heart of Adam. All these things bearing the sticky mark of their Maker.)

I see a parent's love for the great-out-of-doors and how they revel at the sight of a hawk and think, that love and dedication for this created world is something of God and is a shared part of His heart.

I see a friend's artistic eye and how they seem to glow when they make art. This is God seeping out of their lives – in such a beautiful act of worship.

I see a co-worker's generous acts of service in preparing outstanding coffee and her watchful eye on all the young gringos in the office – sending passionfruit tea home for one who's fallen ill. This is God's heart.

I see a million flecks of Christ in the people I interact with daily from genuine smiles, to kind gestures, to sacrificial acts. And I can't help but love abundantly.

I see people from other faith backgrounds, Muslims, Catholics, Mormons and can't help but respect God's unique fingerprints on them and their religions.

I am impressed by the dedication of many Muslims, stopping everything they do five times a day to re-orient them self (both physically and spiritually) towards their center. I think, what if Christians did that – what if I did that, how would my life look different if I so obviously wore my beliefs on my sleeve.

After traveling through South America – and standing in some of the biggest cathedrals in the world – I respect the Catholic perspective of God – noticing how they really get the grandiosity of God. While sometimes I get wrapped up in Jesus being my BFF – I forget I'm also talking to the Almighty, Creator of the Universe.

I spent last week with a group of Mormon dentists who came down to work in some of the most impoverished communities in the DR. The matriarch of their family passes away a few months ago and I was struck by their deep sense of family and love. The way extended family has stayed a network of support for their granfather and to see their grief in motion, cleaning, pulling and filling rotton teeth in a foreign country. It was a beautiful thing, covered in sticky fingerprints.