Your Hands

Earlier this week, I wrote about breathing, and how we can be grateful for breath.  In the same devotional time when I was asked to breathe deeply, I was then asked to look at my hands.  

We've thought alot about our hands lately. We wash them. We try to keep them away from our faces.  We cover them with sanitizer.  And then with hand lotion. We try not to touch our faces.  We wash our hands.  

There are those things that our hands have not been able to do lately.  We can't shake hands.  We rarely are able to wrap our hands and arms around someone we love - either for fear of infection or just plane distance.  We avoid touching surfaces.  I am a tactile person, and touching something brings me information I need to process it.  Even the act of picking of a package in the supermarket leaves me with the worry that I have somehow contaminated it for the next person who may touch it.  Our hands may not be turning the pages of a hymnal or receiving the bread of communion.

And then there are the things are hands are doing that isn't usual.  We may be typing on the computer more or starting more Zoom calls.  We may be picking up the telephone to speak with someone when telephone conversations aren't our favorite way to communication.  We are using our hands to hook a mask around our ears and to then carefully remove it.  We wave goodbye as we leave a virtual meeting, and we hold our phones up to the laptop camera to show someone a picture. 

Take a moment and be grateful for your hands.  Grab some hand lotion and give your hard-working hands a moment of peace as you care for them.  Hold your hands together or hold them open and give thanks for the ministry that God is doing through you, even if it is different than it was a few months ago. Give thanks for the hope your hands can bring.  Give thanks. Receive peace. Amen.