Hands

     I remember, as a new mom, looking at my son's hands and wondering what their history would be. What would they do? Who would they touch? What would they feel? Would they be loving hands, or hurt others? These were my thoughts as his little fingers gripped mine. Hands physically connect us to others, and his tiny hands were precious to me.
     I've always loved my husband's hands. They feel like a man- they tell a story of hard work and care. They fix things, they create, they instruct, and they please. They are much bigger than mine, and my hand felt safe and secure in his. But when I discovered his unfaithfulness, his hands told a story I didn't like. They now included deceit and I wondered many of the same things about them that I had wondered about my son's tiny hands. What had they done? Where had they been? Who had they touched? These thoughts wounded my spirit.
     I could choose to get stuck in that negative thought pattern, or I could take a good look at my own hands. What is their history? Who have they hurt? While my hands have often been loving, they have also been unkind. As a kid, these hands hurt my siblings. My hands have touched things they had no business touching. My hands have neglected the needs of others. My hands are also guilty of a less than upstanding history. 
     This draws me to think of another pair of hands- hands that have scars. These scars tell a story of sacrifice and love beyond comprehension. They were the only hands that have no history of sin, yet they had nails cruelly placed in them. They were hands that healed others, fed the hungry, embraced children, and reached out to any that would come. They never hurt. They were hands that were full of compassion, and they stretched out in love on that cross of Calvary. 
     I look at my own hands now- dirty with sin, and I am thankful for those scarred hands. For in them, He washes the dirt from mine, and gives me hands that are clean before the Father. While my hands have a history of sin, through His precious sacrifice, they are clean.  No matter what they have done, before our Savior, the dirt of sin is washed away with His blood. This helps me to look at the hands of others with new eyes- eyes that see His ability to erase the sin history of our hands, and give us hands willing to serve Him. Thank You Lord, for forgetting the sins of my past, and giving me a future full of grace, and fresh starts. 

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8 ESV
Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: Lamentations 3:41 ESV
Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD! Psalm 134:2 ESV
Let the favor of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! Psalm 90:17 ESV

Dear Heavenly Father, help my hands to be busy with Your work. Help me to look at my own hands, and what they have done, rather than looking at the hands of others. May my hands be kind, gentle, useful and compassionate. While my history holds disappointment, my future is full of opportunity. May my best days of service start today. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!