My two hands are like your hands, plunged into the kitchen sink several times day, used for changing diapers, brushing out tangles, turning the pages of stories, making beds, holding little hands… My mother’s hands are soft hands, skin worn smooth from work. My grandmother’s hands, softer still; I’m still working on mine.
Lots of degrees, lots of schools, but are we only seeking knowledge? Less and less we see a willingness to work with our hands. There is something undervalued about it in our knowledge powered world. Still, one of the hardest degrees, that of a doctor or surgeon, relies upon it: work of the hands. Just like our Physician’s hands, Potter’s hands, Creator’s hands, Shepherd’s hands, they are at work-- on us.
The very first work we will ever read about is completed by Christ’s fingertips alone. Psalm 8:3 “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,The moon and the stars, which You have ordained…”
I love when science coincides with scripture. And we know that scripture is always right, and science gets it wrong a lot, but a couple of years ago when they discovered chariots at the bottom of the Red Sea, I was excited. A part of me shouts, “See! told you so!”
Research is now backing up what God has said all along. It is good for us to work with our hands. A New York Times article states, “One shop teacher suggested to me that ‘in schools, we create artificial learning environments for our children that they know to be contrived and undeserving of their full attention and engagement. Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.’ ”
So who’s to say that pulling out the glitter and glue and creating with your children isn’t as important as drilling multiplication tables, or learning to write papers at the computer? Who’s to say that the mess of cut paper under the table isn’t valuable for the art that adorns the fridge? And that the pom-pom critters sitting in the window sill are more than merely clutter. Working with our hands distracts us from worry. Working on a project, or craft, is a time when our minds can focus wholly into what we’re creating. My mind needs that break from this world. I’m sure my childrens' do too. And this is how You are showing me Your love today, by reminding me that You made me to be creative with my hands.
Lord, may I not under value work of the hands, the work You have given me. May I be a mender, a maker, a mother, creative for Your glory. May I take the time to instill a love for these things in my home. May I learn to work quietly, keeping my eyes on the affairs my own home, not interfering with others. Beautiful are softened and roughened hands, hands that have known hard work, hands that have completed, healed, and repaired. Beautiful, Your nail-pierced hands.
1Thessalonians 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
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