The human body is surely a miracle of God's creation. Each member has its unique function with none quite as active as the hands. Everything man has ever made or ever will make is made by hands.

The human hand is a miracle which we completely take for granted. The work of our hands, in their eloquence, silence, restlessness, creativity, and violence, has made human history and continues to shape the present and future.

The human hand is majestic and elegant and the most utilized of all our physical members. If you want to know something about a man's depth, then watch his hands because every man's hands tell us something about the man. Our personal history is in our hands.

We know Jesus as Lord and Master. We see Him as the Savior of the world. What about His hands? What kind of hands did He have? From what we learn about Him in Scripture, we know that He had healing hands, praying hands, working hands, helping hands, and hands of power. Jesus also had disfigured hands that had been pierced with nails and fastened to a tree. They were scarred, misused and abused hands.

Well, what kind of hands do you have? Are they helpful hands or hindering hands? Do they grab and reach for all they can get? Are they manicured and babied? Are they deceitful, disguised hands? Look at your hands. Are they the hands that greet in love but stab in the back? Are they guilty hands, contradictory hands? Are they hands reaching out in love? Are they comforting, reassuring hands? Are they encouraging, praying hands? What kind of hands do you have?

Hands

Each member of the body
Acts according to demand.
But none is quite as startling
As the human hand.

All man has constructed
Was made solely by his hands.
From the most complicated spacecraft
To the simplest built newsstand.

Hands have remarkable abilities,
Majestic and contemptible too.
Varied images comes to mind
When we consider what hands do:

Thrown up in amazement,
Waved in fond farewell.
Dropped in grave despair;
Gliding the book of Braille.

Hung low in painful anguish,
Covering the eyes in shame.
Clasped in loving friendship,
Moving pieces on board game.

Claps in glad approval,
Collapsed upon relief.
Slapped in placid discipline,
Locked in solemn grief.

Shaken in warm greeting,
Clinched when feeling rage.
Dances across the keyboard,
Wrinkling as we age.

Writing in creative styles,
Painting a masterpiece.
Sculpturing an enormous statue
Signing treaties of peace.

Clicking computer keys,
Stabbing backs, if a betrayer.
Folded over in death,
Pressed together in prayer.

Flagging when needing help,
Fanning in extreme heat.
Fisting against a punching bag,
Raising forks as we eat.

Extended to help a stranger
Raised to pledge an oath.
Pounding in fierce anger,
Caressing one's betroth.

The human body is truly phenomenal;
Miracles at its every command.
But none is quite as remarkable,
As the wonders of the human hand.

Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. http://www.clergyservices4u.org. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, will be available soon.