I realize these thoughts are not new, but they were new impressions to me.
Recently I have been noticing fingerprints throughout my home. They are on the doors where my hand reaches out to keep them from swinging too wide, on the refrigerator, the microwave, the oven, and even on my computer. No matter how often I wipe them away, more appear. It is simply part of living. Part of touching the world around me.
As I go about my day, I find myself thinking about the other kinds of fingerprints we leave behind. Not the smudges on glass or metal, but the impressions we leave on people. The small touches of kindness or patience that settle quietly into someone’s memory. The gentle words that stay long after the moment has passed. The way our presence can soften a day or steady a heart without us ever realizing it.
I also feel a deep sense of gratitude for the fingerprints that have been left on me. My family and friends have touched my life in ways that cannot be wiped away. Their love, their encouragement, their patience, and their hard earned wisdom have shaped me. Their fingerprints are part of who I am, and I carry them with me every day.
Thinking about all of this naturally leads me to God’s fingerprints. The quiet ways He touches my life, often so softly that I only recognize it later. His fingerprints are in the moments of protection I did not see coming, in the comfort that arrived right when I needed it, in the strength that showed up when I felt empty, and in the people He placed in my path to steady me. His touch is on every page of my story, even the pages I would not have chosen.
These thoughts make me wonder what kind of fingerprints I am leaving in this world. I hope they are the kind that remain in the form of lifting others up. I hope my touch brings warmth instead of worry, comfort instead of confusion, and a little more light than was there before. I hope the places I have been feel a bit more peaceful because I was there.
The truth is, we rarely see the impact we make. We simply keep showing up, keep offering whatever goodness we have, and trust that something of it will remain. Just as the prints on my doors and appliances show where I have been, I hope the prints of my life show love, faith, and gentleness in the hearts I have touched.
Maybe that is the quiet beauty of it. We leave fingerprints everywhere. Some are wiped away. Some stay forever.