The Hand Print

I saw that my youngest daughter shared her college’s Facebook post.
One more day until the new freshman students move in.
One more day until she as an RA meets her 43 residents.
One more day until the empty hall on the fourth floor is filled with girls.

I can imagine the hallway.
I can see all of the posters my daughter designed by hand.
I can see the creative way she will decorate each door.
I can see each girls name on their door in the lovely way my daughter planned to display it.

I can see the Scripture verses that will encourage them each day.
I can see the master calendar that can easily be written on and wiped off.
I can see the lounge with the kitchen and imagine the brownies that will be baked there.
I can see the study room with its little lights to provide ambiance and make it feel cozier.

The Res Life staff works very hard to prepare for the incoming freshman.
My daughter is a freshman RA; other Res Life staff will minister to upper classes.
I am not sure of the exact theme of this year’s Welcome Week.
However, the banner says, Laborers for Christ and A Work In Progress.

I saw the large banner that was displayed on the grass in front of the freshman dorm.
I saw the entire staff of that dorm smiling broad smiles in anticipation of those that will come.
Without making the photo larger on my phone, I saw my daughter.
I would know her anywhere.

The same smile.
The trendy glasses.
Those dimples.
The sheer joy on her face.

I was about to enlarge the picture but decided against it.
I noticed that the banner had all of their hand prints on it.
Each RA left their mark.
Each RA is prayerfully waiting for the residents that have been assigned to them.

I gave myself a challenge.
I wanted to see if I could find my daughter’s hand print.
At first I thought it was an absurd idea.
However, I realized that I have held her hand her whole life.

I would know her hand anywhere.
I would know her gait if I saw her walking from afar.
I would know her laugh, her voice, and her gestures.
I know her.

I stared at the picture of the banner on the grass.
I looked over the hand prints.
I decided that my daughter’s hand was on the right side of the banner.
The hand prints were in pairs; hers was the hand print on the left.

I enlarged the picture and sure enough, it was my daughter’s hand print.
Until I enlarged the picture, I never noticed that process of elimination would have helped me.
My daughter is left handed just like her mother and one of her brothers.
There were only three left handed hand prints on the banner.

This may not seem so spectacular.
Big deal.
You guessed your daughter’s hand print.
It is a big deal; it is a very big deal.

You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:1-16)

God knows everything about His children.
He knows when we sit or we stand.
He knows when we go out or when we come in.
He is familiar with all our ways.

God would easily be able to pick out our hand print on a banner.
He created our hand after all.
God knows everything about us, yet we try to hide from Him.
We try to cower in the corner and keep that little part of ourselves private, tucking it over there.

God will have none of that.
Our lives, our thoughts, and our hearts are laid bare before Him.
Our fingerprints are unique, yet every swivel is known to our Creator God.
Of the millions of people He has created, we are intimately known by Him.

Even if everyone in the entire world was praying to God at the same time, He hears only us.
Even if everyone in the entire world needed comfort, He is there to provide it.
God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.
All knowing, all powerful, and present everywhere at the same time is the God we serve.

That is the God who made us.
That is the God who knows us.
That is the God who loves us.
That is the God who never leaves us or forsakes us.

I really can’t boast that I was able to pick out my daughter’s hand print on a banner.
That is just a glimpse of what God is able to do as our Father.
God can pick out His children from the millions He has created.
God can give undivided attention to everyone at once as if we were the only ones He created.

There is no need to feel alone; there is no need to feel misunderstood.
Every swivel of your fingerprint is known by the God who made you.
Every hair on your head is counted.
See I have engraved you on the palms of My hands. (Isaiah 49:16)

He really has.
You are known.
You are loved.
You are special.

That should make a difference in your day.