God’s Hands

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. Psalm 63:3-5

Have you ever looked at other people’s hands?  I spend a lot of time with my parents and one of the things that break my heart is the state of their hands.  They both suffer from arthritis but you probably wouldn’t know it if you didn’t look at their hands.  They seldom complain about the pain they suffer but I know it is there.  It is harder for my dad to use certain tools and more difficult for my mom to open jars and do some of the basic things that we often don’t think about.  Even door knobs are no longer easy to use and the simplest tasks are painful for both of them. 

Since my parents own their own business they have to wear many hats.  When I watch my mom struggle to tie bows on our many products it reminds me how hard working my parents are and how much of that work ethic they have passed on to their children.    

If I had to describe the beauty of my parent’s hands it would be go something like this:  The joints are curved and swollen most of the time.  There are lines and wrinkles and a great deal of life revealed in their hands.  Those were the hands that comforted us when we were hurt and put Band-Aids on the scrapes of life.  They gave direction and discipline and gave my hand to my husband’s in marriage.  The hands that have grown into crooked joints and stiff fingers reflect a life well lived.  Their hands are a source of strength but also of gentleness.   My mom always says that she has ugly hands.  To me they are the most beautiful things in the world.

God gave us hands to use for good.  We can use these tools that God created to show love to others and to do great things through them.  Hands can give and they can take away.  How we use them can make us or break us. 

This made me think of God’s hands. He guides us and comforts us.  He protects us through the storms of life.  God basically holds the world in His hands.  If I had to choose a place to be for the rest of my life it would be in God’s hands.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I see beauty in my parent’s hands.  They have held me through the worst of times and also through the best.  Although they are wrinkled and the knuckles swollen, I see love and beauty in their hands.  Their hands remind me of who You are and how You hold my life in Your hands.  Help me to use my hands for You. 

   

Scripture: I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.  Psalm 17:6-8