December 13, 2020
God’s Hands Show Love
By James Laney
GOD’S HANDS . . . can support . . . can heal . . . can send retribution . . . can comfort but mostly, GOD’S HANDS show LOVE.
I was eating lunch one day last week at a quick-service pizza restaurant, and the staff behind the counter were pleasant when I placed my order and paid, but they were no more or less engaging than any average restaurant employees. They knew what they were doing and seemed efficient, busying their hands with many tasks while assembling multiple single-serve pizzas and salads – I didn’t think too much about it. When my pizza was ready and one of the women brought it to me she said: “This was made with love”. I was pleasantly surprised and was reminded that even when our hands are performing routine or repetitive tasks, we can share love through our handiwork. God is the basis of all we know about love – and what a strong foundation that is! His love is all-encompassing, never-ending, deeper than we can imagine, and wide enough to cover all of our faults. I don’t believe that God has actual hands, or that he physically reaches out, but his love flows through us as his physical hands, to comfort, inspire, support and love. For some hands, it is easier to see the connection to God – nurses and doctors healing the sick; nursery workers soothing infants; grandparents hugging their loved ones. But all hands can show God’s love – bakers kneading and baking a batch of perfect yeast rolls; construction workers directing traffic safely through the orange cone maze; architects designing attractive and inspiring buildings . . . pretty much everything we do can (and should) be an expression of God’s love through us.