Put Your Fingerprint On Someone’s Heart

7 Apr

“Our finger prints don’t fade from the lives we touch.”  ~ Judy Blume

I, too, am one of the many people who have succumbed to binge-watching television during this pandemic.  While I have been attending to parish business, I have also had time in the evening to sit down and watch some shows.  To that end, I discovered, a few weeks ago, NCIS.  I like police drama and this show is very satisfying (though I became alarmed when I found out there were other NCIS locations as well, just like Law & Order had done years ago.  I don’t know if I’m up to watching another series!)

One of the characters that fascinates me is Abby Sciuto.  That is the fictional name of the lab tech.  Now, when I say lab tech, I say that as a descriptor.  She would more likely be defined as lab genius.  Abby can find evidence about anything on anything anywhere.  She can sift through rubble and find a piece of DNA.  She can look at the oddest things and find partial fingerprints.

To be honest, some of the things on which Abby found fingerprints blew me away.  “Who would have thought!” I often exclaim to myself.

Yes.  We leave fingerprints everywhere, both literally as well as figuratively.  That is what Judy Blume, the author of child and young adult fiction would tell us.  When we enter someone’s life, we leave our mark on them whether for good or for ill.  Years, sometimes decades, from now, someone might come up to us and say, “Remember when…” and tell us how we marked their life.

We have the ability to impact the lives of all we encounter.  We should try to impact someone in a positive way and we should begin today.  I know what some of you might be thinking:  “We are in a stay-in-place.  How can we impact anyone?”  Well, are you living with family or roommates?  Say something positive to them or do something positive for them.  We need to hear good from other people now more than other times in our lives.

We can also touch the life of another via the internet.  Email, Facetime, Zoom, and other methods including social media give us an opportunity to touch someone in a positive way.  Don’t let a pandemic give you an excuse not to build someone up or rob you of an opportunity to reach out to others.  Be creative.  Find a way.  Put your fingerprint on someone’s heart.

FAITH ACTION:  Place your mark in someone’s life today.