Psalm 139:1-12
“Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are ever restless till they find their rest in Thee.” (Augustine of Hippo)
In a place where light and dark are one and the same, and the eternal morning laps upon the shores of the sea’s far limits, God stoops, gathers a handful of moistened clay, and tenderly forms us and breathes into us. Into what image are we made? God’s own, of course. Marked by the minute impression of God’s thumbprint.
If we read today’s psalm with the creation stories in mind, we realize anew that the very Spirit of our generous, life-giving, and loving Creator has been imparted into us. God created a bond between us. And, as Augustine said, we’ve been restless ever since.
That restlessness is an inner spark that fires our engines and empowers us to make something. Make your bed. Make dinner. Make an appointment. Make a friend. Make music. Make a plan, a shopping list, a living. Make good. Whatever we endeavor to make, if we put our thumbprint on it, expresses something of our unique, imperfect, but beloved and created-by-God selves. After all, we were made in God’s image and have God’s unique thumbprint on us.
A surefire way to witness this truth is to sit with young children resourced with time and an assortment of crayons, or blocks, or shapes, fabrics, blank pages, you name it, and observe what happens. How little time passes before someone says: “Look what I made!” We not only bear God’s fingerprints ourselves, but when we are attentive and affirming of God’s children (of any age), we help them recognize those fingerprints on themselves.
Consider
What available resources could I find and use today to creatively reflect both me and my Maker?
Pray
God, thank you for forming my life and giving me your Spirit. Help me open myself to the gifts around me that invite me to express my love for you. Amen.