She was sitting very quietly with her head bowed, looking very intently at her hands. She didn't move and I was concerned that something was wrong, so I approached her and sat down next to her and said,
"I didn't mean to disturb you, but you were just sitting here staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK."
"Have you ever looked at your hands," she asked. "I mean really looked at your hands?"
I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands as I tried to figure out the point she was making.
The woman smiled and related this story:
"Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years. These hands, though wrinkled shriveled and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life..."
"They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor."
"They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back. As a child, my mother taught me to fold them in prayer. They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots. They held my husband and wiped my tears when he went off to war."
"They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent. They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son. Decorated with my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special."
"They wrote my letters to him and trembled and shook when I buried my parents and spouse."
"They have held my children and grandchildren, consoled neighbors, and shook in fists of anger when I didn't understand."
"They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried and raw. And to this day when not much of anything else of me works real well these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to fold in prayer."
These hands are the mark of where I've been and the ruggedness of life."
Have you looked at your hands and been thankful that they have supported many of your activities throughout life? Are your hands something that you take for granted? Even though you haven't paid much attention to them, they don't quit being supportive.
Be a hand in someone else's life, supportive, strong, soft, understanding, because many people hunger for understanding and support, they need strength but also a soft place to land.
Be that hand.
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