The Only Hands God Has

Whatever task lies to your hand, do it with all your might. . .  Ecclesiastes 9:10

For the past several weeks I have been going to therapy. The clinic I go to is less than a 10-minute drive away from my home, but I listen to my car radio anyway.  It’s tuned to the Bott radio network which is a Christian station that broadcasts sermons preached by pastors representing different denominations. I am always attracted to the speakers with accents. 

Last week during one of my 10-minute drives, I caught just the tail end of a sermon preached by a pastor with a rather thick Scottish brogue. He was telling a story about the restoration of a beautiful statue of Jesus that had been severely damaged by a storm. At the end of his story, he said the workmen doing the repair work had explained that Jesus’ hands were too badly damaged to reattach them. So, they left the hands off but changed the inscription at the feet of the statue to read: “Your hands are the only hands God has.”

That story, short as it was, has kind of haunted me since then. It keeps coming back at strange times making me feel I need to get busy. As an octogenarian, I can no longer take on big projects, but I try to do “the little things” Sister Theresa wrote about. She always preached that doing the little things really matters. 

As I stepped inside Eastridge Church this morning, it made me so happy to be a member here. Many hands were already at work helping to prepare our worship service. Soon many more hands would be passing out boxes of food from the church pantry to those in need and this is just the start of the week where many more hands will become “His hands” as the days of this month of August progress. 

How can your hands become God’s hands?

Prayer: Father, we praise and thank you for the spiritual leaders who remind us that You expect us to use the talents You gave us and to put our hands to work. Help us to find those tasks that need our hands. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen 

Judy Welch