Hands

I didn’t know it until I looked it up but the human hand, in all its intricate design, has an interesting uniqueness. Did you know that within our fingers, there are no muscles, just tendons? The muscles in our palm and forearm basically play puppeteer to our fingers; pulling the strings that make our fingers move.

I thought about our hands and what they can do after noticing a couple holding hands. I thought it was sweet that this elderly couple still held hands after all their years together. Their hands were marked with age, and all the bumps and marks that come with time. They had long since lost the newness of the skin of a newborn baby, but as they gently held each other’s hands, their connection seemed no less pure than that of an infant grasping its mother’s fingers.

It seemed to me, as I considered these weathered hands, fingers interlocked, wedding rings worn down by time but still shining bright, that this couple had likely employed their commitment to one another to forge a life that we could all learn from.

I expect they handed down rich family traditions to their children and modeled what it meant to lend a helping hand to a neighbor in need. They likely spent more time pointing to rainbows in the sky than they did pointing out other people’s flaws. They probably spent little time using their hands to spank their children and instead used them to guide and soothe them.

I imagine their hands were balled up in fists of rage far less than the number of times they were clenched in fits of passionate celebration of family milestones, successes and accomplishments.

Based on what I see, I know they used those puppeteer muscles to make their fingers point to themselves more than others, always thinking first if there was something they could do differently before pointing blame at someone else. I am sure they held their hands out in friendship a countless number of times. Using all those muscles and tendons to grip someone else’s hand, holding on for just a few more seconds than usual, to let the other person know they cared.

They must have had some challenges through the years though; I bet they held onto each other for strength throughout hardships, and folded their hands in prayer instead of throwing their hands up in defeat. Regardless, there were times that those hands were needed to wipe away tears of sadness, and I hope their hands were stained with tears of joy as well.

Yes, our hands are truly amazing gifts, and like all our gifts, we get to choose how we use them. That’s right, we are our own puppeteers. We have both the privilege and responsibility to make our own choices. Sometimes that can be a bit daunting, but it’s important for us to know that we hold all the power we need, right in our own two hands.