Being a blogger means that there is always something I can be doing in preparation for another blog post, or for revamping the look of the blog, or for future scheduling, or in social media, or reading other bloggers.
So when my husband has to go away on business trips I know that all of those things plus other family, and friends and church activities will keep me busy and I will not really miss him all the time.
However this last time he went away, I found that I was missing him a lot.
Now the strange thing about it was that I missed his hands.
A few different times I would suddenly picture his hands in my mind and I just missed not seeing them and holding them.
Of course I did naturally miss the things he would do for me around the house.
And I did sort of miss the things he would do that often make me smile - playing the guitar, playing the keyboard.
But mainly I missed his hands.
I missed not seeing them each day.
Maybe it was because we can face time (even when he is in Morocco or Azerbaijan) and so I can see his face even when he is away but don't normally see his hands while we chat.
But whatever the reason it really struck me as odd that I missed his hands.
Then I was drawn to think back to one morning in church when the message was on the hands of Jesus.
How practical his hands were.
Considering all the things He did with His hands.
The hands of Jesus were often the instruments of His Blessings.
- He placed His hands on children to bless them and on others.
- He placed His hands on lepers to heal them.
- He used His hands to break the bread and fish before feeding the 5,000.
- He used His hands to pull Peter out of the water.
- He placed His hands on the funeral bier to raise the son of the widow of Nain.
In church we sometimes sing a kids chorus called "Jesus' hands were kind hands"
Fred's hands have not been used in all of those situations but they have been used to help me and others and comfort me and they hold mine each morning as we pray together.
I am thankful for Fred's hands.
Some of the things Fred's hands have been used for to help and encourage me:
- To Praise God
- To play the guitar
- To play the piano or keyboard
- To read the Bible
- To pray with me
- To show me the beauty of God's Creation (he knows more about nature than I do)
- To make me coffee each morning
- To help our grown-up children with practical things
- To lift down things from high shelves for me
- To drive me about when my foot is painful
- To hold and carry heavy objects for me
- To help to keep our grandchildren safe
I am thankful for Fred's hands.
We are all thankful for the hands of Jesus.
BUT
We need to be the hands of Jesus at different times for one another.