Fingerprints…

Sometimes I’m asked, “What’s it like to be a twin?”  My answer?  “What’s it like to not be a twin?”  The next question: “Are you identical?”  “My twin sister certainly hopes not!”  But I do have identical twin cousins.  Yep.  And all these years later I still have trouble telling them apart.

Imagine having someone exactly the same as you.  Yes, I know.  Let’s all check our fingerprints.  No one is exactly the same as someone else.  But try this one out.  Take a walk through a busy city street or shopping centre.  Join the passing parade.  Even living in a cosmopolitan, multicultural environment we can quickly become one of many.  Just an immemorable face in a crowd.  Insignificant.  Perhaps not even noticed.  Now that could be discouraging.

Thank God we can have people in our lives who notice who we are.  Who take to time to ask.  Take time to listen.  Take time to care.  Take time to realise our uniqueness.  We all need this kind of encouragement.

Then there’s our creator.  The one who made sure all our fingerprints are different.  The one who knows exactly who we are… and loves us more than we can measure or imagine.  Here’s what he says, “If you have any encouragement from being friends with me, if any comfort from my love, if any fellowship with my Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one with one another in spirit and purpose.” (Philippians 2:1-2)

Who have you encouraged today?