Lifeprints
LIFEPRINTS
Read Colossians 3:8-9, 12-14.
When the morning school bell rang, Tyson pushed past several children and hurried to the drinking fountain. He edged in at the front of the long line. “No cuts!” called several children, but Tyson ignored their complaints and took a long drink. When he went to hang up his coat, he found a coat on the hook nearest the door—his favorite spot. So he moved the coat to a place down the line and put his own coat on the hook instead.
In class, Tyson spent a lot of time daydreaming instead of studying. At lunchtime, he tried to be the first one out the door and the last one back in. “No fair,” he grumbled when he had to stay inside for recess to finish the homework he hadn’t completed.
After school Tyson invited Jerry over to play. “I got a new detective set,” he said. “Let’s see if we can lift fingerprints.”
The boys played until Tyson’s dad came home from work. After Jerry left, Tyson told Dad about the “detective work” they had been doing. “You leave prints on everything you touch, you know,” said Tyson.
“I know, Son,” said Dad. “What kind of prints have you been leaving all day?”
Tyson squinted at his dad. “The same kind as always, of course,” he said. “Your fingerprints don’t change.”
“True,” agreed Dad, “but wherever you go, you leave other prints too. Let’s call them ‘lifeprints.’ Everything you do makes an impression—or a lifeprint—on other people. What kind of prints do you think you made today on your teacher and on the kids at school?”
HOW ABOUT YOU?
What kind of lifeprints are you making? Do others see selfishness and laziness in your prints, or do they see kindness, courtesy, faithfulness, and friendliness?
TO MEMORIZE:
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Colossians 3:12
WITNESS THROUGH ACTIONS.
From the book
