Today the sun is shining, and weather.com says we’re going to break 60 degrees. Spring’s brilliant green is everywhere, and even my reluctant hostas are reaching for the sky. It’s difficult to believe that only 3 weeks ago we had a hard frost, the kind that feels like late October.

When I climbed into the car that day, the view out my windshield was stunning, like God had put an exclamation point at the end of winter. I sat and stared at what looked like etched glass, the artwork of our Creator, wishing I didn’t have to turn on the defroster.

Of course my windshield wasn’t actually etched or cut into. It just looked that way. As I waited for it to clear, I thought about the process of etching (or engraving), which is meant to leave a permanent mark on something.

For example, when we bought a two-wheeled bike for our first child on his 5th birthday, the village hall suggested we engrave an identifying mark onto it so that if it was ever stolen and then recovered, we’d have proof of ownership.

An artist of glass or stone often etches his mark, signature, or number into his work when it’s completed so no one else can claim it’s theirs. I have several glass sculptures with etched identification on them, and there’s no way these marks could be removed without marring the piece.

In Scripture God makes mention of a significant marking he’s made on himself in reference to us. One translation reads, “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:16) He may not want us to take this literally, but his point is surely that we are inseparable from him. Once we commit our lives to him, he makes it permanent. And if we ever doubt it, he’s given us the etching visual to depict our close relationship to him.

One other Bible verse makes reference to etching, but this time God wants us to do it. He instructs us to learn all we can from him and then protect that wisdom. We’re supposed to guard the truth he imparts and keep it as close to our hearts as an etched signature is to a sculpture.

As for my windshield etchings, in just a few minutes they had morphed into rivulets of water and were gone. But my thoughts about God’s willingness to etch me on his hand made we want to etch him on my heart as a sign that nothing can separate us.

“My teaching is as precious as your eyesight—guard it!…. Etch it on the chambers of your heart.” (Proverbs 7:2-3, The Message)