God's Signature

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. --Psalm 19:1

My handwriting is nearly identical to my mom's. The notes we leave by the phone, the birthday cards we send, even the checks we write--all are emphatically neat and legible. I can recall only one time when my mom's handwriting was almost impossible to decipher, and that was about five years ago when she had broken her right hand.

I recognize my mom's writing because I have watched her for many years. She applied her lovely handwriting to many things as I was growing up. Christmas cards, instructions for babysitters, reminders for Dad, checklists of chores on the chalkboard, notes to the school secretary to excuse me for doctor appointments; all of it bore evidence that my mom had etched necessary and meaningful words that were important for me personally, or our family as a whole.

In the same way that I have become familiar with my mom's handwriting and also emulate it in my own, I have spent time learning how to recognize God's handwriting. For several years I have seen evidence of His hand in my life. I have learned to discern which things are from Him, and which are not. The works of His hands are beautiful--even the ones I don't understand. He applies His signature to everything that is required to protect and provide for His creation.

Many people are not familiar with what God's handwriting looks like. They mistakenly attribute horrible things to Him. Natural disasters, crimes against children, even personal losses--although allowed by God are not directly caused by Him. When bad things happen, we ned to look at the bigger picture and determine whether they truly had God's signature on them, or the signature of the world.

God rarely keeps things hidden from us. When He wants us to know that something is from Him, it will be obvious. The book of Romans tells us that because of the parts of nature that He set in place, mankind is without excuse when it comes to knowing that God exists. Additionally, I think that our responsibility as Christians includes teaching others how to recognize what God's handiwork looks like. We can also take this a step further and work at making sure our own actions and character imitate those of our Heavenly Father's. Namely, we are to love one another with the same type of love He extends to us.