My Father’s Imprint
Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there!
Today I want to talk about one in particular. But before I do that, I’m going to talk about turtles, butterflies and Salmon.
My daughters and I recently watched two videos. One was about the metamorphosis of butterflies and the other about some of the creatures of water. We learned that many imprint on what they first see and know. The imprint is so strong it is literally the creature’s guiding force for the rest of its life. It is what tells a turtle the way back home after years at their feeding grounds. It is what drives a pacific salmon to swim upstream hundreds of grueling miles back to the place it was first born. It is what helps a Monarch butterfly migrate 1,000s of miles back and forth across contents. They all have imprinted compasses they instinctively trust without question to lead them to their designated havens.
So what do turtles, Monarch butterflies and Salmon have to do with a father?
Let me first share the definition of Imprint:
verb: /imˈprint/
impress or stamp (a mark or outline) on a surface or body.
Zoology
(of a young animal) come to recognize (another animal, person, or thing) as a parent or other object of habitual trust.
"the bird thought I was its mother and imprinted on me"
noun: /ˈimprint/
a mark made by pressing something onto a softer substance so that its outline is reproduced
When God made man in His image He was imprinting the blueprints of Himself within the DNA of our physical and spiritual bodies. The hands of the Potter imprinted onto the clay of His creation. As my friend Mary said so beautifully, ”The most powerful thing about God’s DNA imprint in us is that it is never diluted by generations as is the human DNA we receive from our forefathers. Each person has 46 chromosomes, 23 pairs from each parent. As I passed my DNA to my children those from my parents and grandparents were diluted. Not so in the DNA God imprints in us.”
It is comforting to know that no matter where I go or how lost I might get, like Monarch butterflies, Salmon and turtles God has placed a heaven calibrated compass in me that will never be diluted over time. The imprint of Himself in me will remain vivid and strong so that I can always find my way back to Him and the truth of who I am in Him.
And that my friends, is the father I am talking about; my heavenly Father and He is truly a good Father.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
“Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”
“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”
Those wonderful words are the Father’s Imprint on my life. I can hardly fathom He desires to be eye to eye and face to face with me and yet, He does. He has imprinted me with His goodness. His thoughts for me are for peace and more than can be numbered. He is merciful and gracious. We all have earthly fathers. Some are good (I have a good father) and some are not, but there is always, always, one who will never leave, fail nor forsake.
I know, because my life is first and foremost a testimony of my Heavenly Father’s imprint.