What Makes A Hand Beautiful?

The Poet says my hands have character.  That's his way of nicely saying they aren't exactly perfect.  My knuckles are knobby, my fingers are crooked and short, and my nails are paper thin  And although they are not as young as they used to be, it is not age that has done this.  My hands have always looked this way.  Its funny that it never occurred to me to question how my hands looked.  I'm pretty sure that was because my hands looked just like my older brother Bill's hands.  And I was  convinced that everything about him was completely cool.

One day well into adulthood I received a comment about my hands.  The young mother of one of my students was telling me how she worried about her nails and whether or not they were pretty enough for her husband.  She talked herself into quite a stew as we stood there and then suddenly she exclaimed, "Oh!  But look at your hands!  Maybe it doesn't matter after all."  I looked down at my hands.  I had just finished several children's art classes in a row.  There were my knobby crooked fingers in need of lotion and sprinkled with the various colors of paint that we'd been using that day.

I spent the next few days wondering whether I should do something about my hands.  Of course, I could not straighten them but maybe I should have my nails done.  Hmmmmm.  And how many hours would it be then before those costly nails had children's paint on them?  Then I began to realize that I could not have "pretty" hands because of the time they spent in paint and glue.  The idea of hands and their role began to roll around in my mind for weeks.  How challenging life is for those who do not have use of their hands at all.  And how much we should take advantage of the hands we have.

Scripture says "How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace and bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"  Isaiah 52:7    Surely the same can be said for hands.  Beautiful are the hands that hold another's to ward off fear.  Beautiful are the hands that bring food to the hungry.  Beautiful are the hands that reach out to hug and to bring strength.  Beautiful are the hands that are raised to celebrate.  And beautiful are the hands that reach out bringing another to the One whose hands were pierced in love for us.

Blessings

One of the songs that plays here on Treasured Sparrow blog is "Blessings" by Laura Story.  Laura's husband has spent the last 5 years in treatments for a brain tumor.  She wrote this song in response to a new perspective they are discovering as they walk this road together.  In an interview, Laura said, "There is a blessedness that comes through waiting on the Lord."  And in fact, Isaiah 30 says, "Blessed are those that wait on the Lord."  

Here are the lyrics.  

BLESSINGS By Laura Story

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while You hear each spoken need

Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near?

What if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, your voice to hear

We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near?

What if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise?

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win

We know the pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home

It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears?

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near?

What if trials of this life

Are Your mercies in disguise?

Dignity, Its on the Third Shelf on the Right

Today in church the Poet quoted studies that claim the average person complains 53 hours out of each year!   FIFTY THREE HOURS!!!   Wow!  That caught my attention.  And truth be told, being a bit of an over achiever in this area, I'm probably above average on this accomplishment.  What a complete waste. 

That eye opening information goes well with what I've been reading - I Second That Emotion by Patsy Clairmont.  Patsy is one of my favorite people.  She has such lively wit and just when she has me chuckling she comes in with a profound thought to cause me to pause and think a deeper thought. I Second That Emotion comes with a DVD that is made up of a collection of snippets from Patsy's presentations over the years.  Each one helps to make the point presented in the study guide at the back.  

I've been moving along pretty quickly until I read chapter 6.  This chapter is about Abigail.  Abigail was a woman of Old Testament times.  Abigail is described as being intelligent and beautiful.  I love that scripture lists that she was intelligent first.  And Abigail was married to Nabal.  I'm pretty sure if you looked the word Jerk up in Webster, you'd find Nabal's name listed there.  Choosing to marry Nabal might have been Abigail's most unintelligent decision.  Of course, in those times, she may have not had a choice.  You can read Abigail's story in 1 Samuel 25:2 - 42.  Patsy makes note of the fact that Abigail was ready for the unexpected.  Her pantry was stocked and her character was equipped for the unexpected.  

There is so much more in the book and you would be blessed by reading it.  But here is my condensed version of what Patsy lists as the much desired traits Abigail held.

Dignity - Dignity can manifest itself in many ways.  In this context it reveals itself in the action of following one's own calling.

Discernment - Learning from our mistakes and from watching the example of godly people .... perhaps lowering that 53 hours to 26 for next year.

Intelligence - There are many ways to show intelligence.  Patsy highlights the intelligence to apply God's Word to our actions and our spoken words.

Self-Control - Choosing balance in all areas of our lives.  This is a big one for me.  How many times over the years have I heard the Lord whisper to me Balance, Elizabeth, Balance.  

Preparedness - The most effective way to be prepared for anything is with the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control.  

Fortitude - The prerequisite to fortitude is a decision to be faithful to our God and to our faith no matter what comes our way.  

Patience - Patsy refers to the quietness of waiting on God, His wisdom and His timing.

Humility - Patsy says, "this is the inner strength to serve with grace."

Rather than hurry on to the next chapter, I think I'll spend a little time with Abigail, reading her story and researching a bit.  I think she has something to offer me.

Patsy says, "It is a choice to rejoice."
Today I am choosing to rejoice rather than complain.

The Light of Your Face

We all have a tendency to fill our days, our weeks with stuff.  We are a stuff filled culture.  Whether it is items purchased from a store or the scratchings on our calendar, or the overflow on our plates, we usually opt for more.  Sometimes abundance is good and sometimes its, well, too much.

I have been dealing with abundance on my calendar lately.  My business is moving in some new directions.  These are good directions that I believe are God directed.  But my problem is the overflow in my head. I drag around with me unresolved piles of previous adventures, unsorted boxes of former ideas, and unchecked items on calendar days already passed.  The burden of trying to carry all the excess of the former along with the present creates a weight that soon demands so much attention that my focus becomes skewed and the result is to be overwhelmed.

"Overwhelmed!?", I cry out to God.  "You promised that Your yoke would be easy.  You promised to help us, to give us strength.  What's the deal with this?"  And then the answer comes, as it always does if we look for it, in the Scriptures.  This week I am working on memorizing Psalm 25:4,5.  Now, I have to tell you that memorizing scripture was not easy for me when I was young and had a pliable brain.  Now that I'm past my prime, its a task not taken on lightly!  Who knows how long it will take me to permanently plant these verses into my head.  But I'm determined!  "Show me Your ways, oh Lord, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are my God, my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long."  This has been my prayer, that God would show me His ways as I stumble my way through boxes of former days and packages just arriving of the future.


So, with that prayer on my heart, I was delighted today when I found this verse which reiterates my request, "Send forth Your light and Your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You dwell."  Psalm 43:3  This verse led me to pray all the more for God to show me His truth for my tasks and abundantly filled days.  And, as if in answer to that request, I read on and found these words studded with jewels.  "It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, for You loved them."  Psalm 44:3

How cool is that?!  We don't have to figure all this out by ourselves.  We don't have to do it all by our own strength.  Not only will God help us with His mighty right arm, but He will bless us, no overwhelm us, with the light of His gracious loving holy face.  Why?  Because He loves us!