Caring Hands

Have you ever really paid attention to what your hands look like? Have you considered how valuable they are and how difficult it would be for us if we ever lost the use of them?
Notice a baby's delicate hands. Small, fragile and soft, reaching out for a finger to hold so they feel comforted. A toddler is ever using their hands to discover forbidden things . A young woman's hands might be soft and beautifully manicured while a man's might be calloused and worn; yet strong. Elderly hands might be bent and twisted, age spotted, thin skinned and weak; yet have a glory that comes by years of toil from working to provide for those they've loved. Hands come in different shapes, colors and sizes. Some with short fingers, some long. Some rough and others smooth. Some young and others old...and yet each set of hands possess a beauty and splendor all their own.
I notice hands.Tiny ones, short ones, chubby ones, long fingered ones...but each pair of hands have their own destiny. To one pair it may be a future piano recital, to another the kneading of dough for bread, another might prune flowers, while another plants vineyards, another may write poetry , while another pair may applaud the performance, another may create one of a kind pottery, and another may drive the nail for the display, another pair cradles a newborn, while the next pair embraces the unloved. One pair may wipe a fevered brow; another may administer medication, one might perform surgery, while another might prepare the last of a loved ones journey. Hands... How we chooses to use them can result in harm; while the intention of the Creator for us was to bring healing.
Caring hands were the divine plan for all mankind. First to care enough to offer up worship to a loving God and then to bestow love with them upon our fellow man.Caring hands that pray and praise, work and love, hug and embrace, hands that offer comfort and concern, compassion and hands that gently nudge others onward towards success.
Oh Lord, Let my hands be hands that are used for your intended purpose! Let them be, "caring hands" that follow the very pattern of the love you showed to us in your word. Love revealed through your caring hands on Calvary. Hands that lead us, hands that feed us, hands that hold us, hands that hide us, hands that keep us, hands that protect us, hands that wash us, hands that correct us, hands that sheild us, hands that beckon us, hands that possess us, hands that war for us, hands that save us, hands that defend us, hands that heal us, hands that anoint us, , hands that bear the burden of our personal crosses, hands that carry us across that chilly Jordan and hands that welcome us home. Caring hands!