We’ve just made our way through the season of Advent, and stepped into the twelve days of Christmas. Advent is a time of waiting and mystery, and in the piece of art above, I was exploring the way each of us has times in our lives when we feel fragmented; when we can’t really see any pattern or meaning to what is happening. Sometimes we get glimpses of how things might connect or what they might mean, but mostly we just have to live in the midst of the not-knowing. We can’t hurry up and get to the end of it either; things happen in a timing that we can’t control.
Often, it is only later that we are able to look back and understand how things fell into place, and see the big picture. And in my life, I can often say, “Oh yeah, now I can see God’s fingerprints all over that.”
Fingerprints All Over It – 24″ x 36″ – caulk, paint, iridescent pigment, on board – Advent/Christmas 2012
The idea to use a fingerprint for this piece of art came from a chance remark a friend made months ago when we were talking about Christmas, that she was intrigued by the idea that this newborn infant had God’s fingerprints. It was an interesting thought, and I started playing around with the image.
But when I started blowing up this fingerprint pattern, I noticed how much it reminded me of a spiral galaxy, and thought ‘Ah yes, the universe also has the fingerprints of the Divine!’ (see Romans 1:19-21) And for that matter, so do we; you and I also have the fingerprints of God, in whose image we are made. (I Cor 12:12-27) This does carry with it a certain level of responsibility, if we choose to accept it. A question to ask myself at this introspective time of year is, are the marks I’m leaving on the world Godly ones?