The Hands of God

"I am the hands by which God touches another life." These words written by Colleen Zuck are an inspiration because they remind me that I am needed and important to God. And I am therefore called to live in a way that expresses my divine nature. This means being loving, compassionate and kind to others including myself.

I decided to take a literal look at my hands. I have thin bony fingers which my mother thought should play the piano. But they are not long, barely reaching an octave when stretched across the key board. This didn't stop me from taking lessons as a child and pretending I can still play now and then. The other day I filed and painted my nails and my granddaughter, Paige said, "I like your pretty nails Mimi." Not only did I love the compliment, but it reminded me of the many times I saw my own grandmother soak her hands; massage with cream; file and then paint her nails night after night. It was a ritual I was proud to witness.

The skin across my hands is wrinkled but this is nothing new - they have been wrinkled my whole life. My freckles are still visible; a trait passed down from the Irish side of my family. I find that when I am not typing, cooking, washing dishes, holding a grandchild's hand, or feeding them a bottle, or the many other tasks that are part of my day, I clasp my hands in my lap with the fingers intertwined. At night when I sleep they are together resting on my cheek.

Like most people I take my hands for granted and so to stop and look at them in a spiritual sense, not as a useful tool for my daily life, but as the hands of God touching another life, then all the daily chores don't seem so ordinary. Instead they are extraordinary!

And then I realized, I may need my hands to do the physical things I mentioned, but I don't need them to be God's hands. All I need is the desire to be the person God wants me to be. Now each time I show compassion, kindness, and love to another person (and to myself) I know that it is God doing these things through me.

To fulfill my divine purpose; to be the hands of God that touches another life - what an honor; a privilege; and gift! But even more great is doing so without thinking about it; to have it come natural without trying; just being as God intends us to be.

Life is good!