Who has been using my mirror?

Had I put my thoughts into words, I would have sounded like Mama Bear in the Goldilocks nursery rhyme. The smudgy little fingerprints covering the surface of my makeup mirror made it nearly impossible for me to see my reflection. And that is, after all, the whole reason for the mirror… being able to see my reflection.

I removed the smudges, but I couldn’t stop thinking about mirrors and fingerprints.

Mirrors. What I look like.

Fingerprints. The results of being held in one’s hands.

The more I considered the two, the more uncomfortable I became, because I knew God was pointing out something in me that needed correction.

I had become too wrapped up in how others saw me. God was putting His fingerprints on my life, but I had been more concerned with sharpening my own image; no longer letting God’s fingerprints be the main focus.

Then, I began to wonder about the consequences if I didn’t make a change. I wondered what would happen if I kept trying to wipe away God’s fingerprints so I could be seen more clearly. And I could hear God’s voice telling me,

If you keep wiping away my fingerprints from your life, I’ll stop leaving them on you.

What was I running the risk of losing? How does God leave His fingerprints on my life?

When He sustains me – Psalm 18:35

When He gives me victory – Psalm 44:3

By saving me, helping me and delivering me – Psalm 60:5, Psalm 108:6

When He preserves my life – Psalm 138:7

When He guides me, holds me fast – Psalm 138:10

When He strengthens me, helps me and upholds me – Isaiah 41:10

By calming my fears and helping me – Isaiah 41:13

And that is what I had been trying to remove.

That is the grasp I had been trying to squirm free from.

Sure, I’m supposed to be concerned about what others see in me. But here’s what God reminded me about fingerprints and reflections. It’s His reflection they’re supposed to see. Not mine.

And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18, NET)

God’s process of transforming us leaves His fingerprints. Because the transformation happens when we submit to being held in His hands.

No one can ever pluck us from God’s hand (John 10:28-29), but we can refuse to surrender to the transforming works His hands accomplish in our lives.

We can insist on living fingerprint-free lives that allow our egos to come into clear focus.

I’m rethinking fingerprints these days. Let me live as a giant smudge of them.

As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. (Jeremiah 26:14)