Something new was revealed to me today. Today I saw human hands the way they really are, perhaps for the first time. I have hands, most people do. We have hands that we take for granted. How many times per day do we clench and unclench our hands? How many times do we desire to pick something up and examine it and without another conscious thought our hands, as if by magic, respond by reaching out, grasping the object and pulling it close? We work with our hands, we gesture with them too. We can count on them if we need to. We use them to prepare and to eat our food. We type on our keyboards with them and we use them to wipe away the tears of our children and other loved ones. We hold the hand of another as a sign of affection and/or unity.

Today I watched a pair of hands, which are the most familiar hands on earth to me, except for my own. I have watched these hands hold a paintbrush, a hammer and a screwdriver. I have watched these hands as they gently and carefully examined an injured animal. I have seen these hands dig into the earth, prune a tree and caress a child’s head. I have seen these hands serve another food while the heart and the face both were lit with the joy of service and giving. I have held this hand tightly in times of trouble and strife, to receive reassurance and comfort. I have held the same hands tightly to reassure and to comfort. I remember those hands gripping tightly to a hospital bed to give birth and I remember those hands arranging flowers for our dining room table. Today I watched and listened as they expertly moved up and down on the neck of a violin and filled our home with the joy and pleasure of music. In that instant I remembered all of the things that I had seen those hands do. I wondered to myself how many more miracles still remain in them.

I have heard a lot about the hand of God, moving upon the earth. Today I saw the hand of God moving through the hands of my wife to create beautiful music from a beautiful instrument. Maybe I’m too poetic here, but I really don’t think so. God is always looking for willing hands. Hands that will be used to fill the earth with His will, His presence. When we use our hands to serve, to help, to guide and protect, we are God’s agents upon the earth. He commanded us to love one another. What greater love is there than to lay down our own lives, in other words our agendas for life, and use that time through our hands to make life better for someone else?

I have seen hands all my life. I have seen the hands of my wife, a loving and giving woman, for many years. Today, I saw the truth, both about her hands and the way she chooses to use them, and the truth about what it looks like to actually see the hand of God moving upon the earth. If we are willing, we can be His hands. There is still much love to do with them.

Blessings!

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