Fingerprint Friday

Fingerprint Friday is the brainchild of Beki at The Rusted Chain. I love the idea of looking for God's fingerprint in our lives so I've decided to make this a regular post.

Fingerprint Friday is based on these words from the beautiful song by Steven Curtis Chapman:

I can see the fingerprints of god

When I look at you

I can see the fingerprints of god

And I know its true

You're a masterpiece

That all creation quietly applauds

And you're covered with the fingerprints of god

This is a piece I wrote for another blog, but it's about a place I see the fingerprint of God a lot in my writing.

            I sit on a porch of a cabin tucked back in the woods away from the rest of the world. The forest around me is alive with the sounds of insects and birds. The heat of the day hasn’t begun to set in yet. During a pause in my writing two tiny gold finches perch on the feeder just feet from me and I enjoy their presence. Once the tippity tap of my computer keyboard begins they take flight. Peacefulness envelopes me.

            The cabin belongs to my uncle and is far from my home base near the Rocky Mountains. I stay here when I’m visiting family in the heartland. I love this place and my heart often yearns to return here.

            When I dream of being a full-time writer supporting myself with the work of my craft it is this place I imagine. The kind of place where my spirit is at rest and I can shut out the rest of the chaotic world and reconnect. It is here that I feel closest to the work God has given me in my words.

            As I sit here I realize that while this place is wonderful, it is not where God has me at this point in life. My world is miles away in the city and I love that world also. Someday, this may be what God calls me to, but for now He has called me to something very different and has blessed me with this time of rest and renewal away from it all.

            So, what’s a writer like me supposed to do when I can’t sit on the porch of a cabin in the woods (or on a beach or wherever this place is for you) on a regular basis? Am I to just put my work on hold when I can’t plug into this source of rest?

            I don’t believe that’s the case. I think God gives us these places in our life to encourage us and fill us, but we don’t have to be in specific place to connect to our inner most writer. I think the key is being able to find places and time in our daily lives to visit the place of our inspiration in our mind and heart. It’s a learning of separating ourselves for a few minutes or a few hours wherever God may have us.

The key isn’t in this porch or these woods, it’s inside me. It’s just easier to find that place while I’m here because the distractions of the world are far away, hidden from my sight by the green trees and sounds of nature. When I return to the city, I return to my life, but I carry this feeling, this place with me wherever I go.