A Carpenter's Hands

You can tell a lot about a person from his or her hands.

When this was first brought to my attention, I immediately thought of my grandfather.  I thought about the hours I spent as a child lotioning his rough carpenter hands.  I thought about how appalled my child-self was that he let his hands get so chapped and cracked.

I look down at my own hands now and realize my child-self would be appalled.  Calloused from holding a pen.  Blistered from raking leaves (yes in December).  Red and rough from the cold, despite the gloves.  I thought about the abuse they receive throughout the day.

Hands vital for communication.  Hands that fidget.  Hands ready to hold.  Ready to perform.  Hands that spell "Hi!" with veins.  Hands that are washed way too often.  Hands that work just as easily in polar fleece gloves as they do independently.  These hands hurt.  These hands are cold. 

These hands don't care.  These hands will do their best for God's glory.  These hands were made to praise Him.  These hands were made to serve Him.  These hands may have to work slowly, but these hands will work and He'll get the honor.

As a child, I never wanted to have the hands of my grandfather, the hands of a carpenter.  As an adult, I want to be the hands of a carpenter, Christ Jesus. 

A carpenter's hands are beat up, bruised, and rough. When I say, "Lord, I want to be Your hands" am I willing to be beat up and bruised?  Am I willing to accept that life will be rough?  Am I willing to accept the scars?

If you can tell a lot about a person by his or her hands and we are called to be Jesus's hands and feet, what are we saying about Him?

<>< Katie

Chilling Conversation

I wrote one of these awhile ago and everyone begged me to do another one. Well, they're incredibly difficult to write because they're very personal. This was yesterday morning when I returned to me seat following communion. I bowed my head and was hit in the face.
<>< Katie

Katie
God

Oh my gosh it's frigid in here! It's Christmastime; why is the air conditioner still on?
Hey, you're the smart one that sat in the same seat twice in one week. Didn't you learn on Christmas Eve?
I feel like I'm sitting in a wind tunnel!
At least you can feel.
Not helping.
I'm serious. Your friend with Lyme disease's body doesn't control temperature correctly. Yours does.
But I'm always cold. I'm already wearing a sweater and long pants. I can't put much more on.

You have a coat.
Then it won't do me an good when I go outside. Have You noticed it's 16 degrees outside, Mr. I Control the Weather?
I have noticed.
Did You also notice I don't have any gloves?
You have gloves.

No, I don't! They're at home in the dryer because they were germy. What a day to wash my gloves!
That's My point. You have gloves... a plethora of gloves. A red pair in your peacoat, a blue pair that belong in Wonder Jacket but are in the dryer right now, a purple pair for texting, a black pair for skiing... Katie, you even have a pair of gloves you wear around the house.
But my hands are still chapped and cracked. All of those gloves aren't doing me any good right now!
But you have gloves. Remember the mitten tree in the atrium? Those kids are getting their one and only pair of gloves.
The mitten tree! That's a good idea! Maybe I'll borrow a pair for the day.
I can turn up the AC if you'd like.
No, thanks. Heat would be nice right about now.
Not until you realize what you do have... a working body--
Minus the spontaneous bleeding of my hands.
You have gloves, your choice of jackets, and think about all of the miscellaneous items stored in Wonder Jacket.

There aren't any gloves in Wonder Jacket right now, I already looked.
No, they're not home being washed. Not because they were dirty but because you think they're full of germs.
They were!
Do you used the washing machine, which you have.

Having a washing machine isn't preventing me from turning into an ice cube right now. You know those cartoons were people are frozen in solid blocks of ice? That's what going to happen here today.

No, it won't. I'll make sure it doesn't happen, but I want you to forget about being cold and just listen. I know that's hard for you but try. For Me?

Ok... fine...

Cell Phone and Gloves

I'm looking through my blog and realize I have a lot of drafts that never got posted. Most of them I just published as they were and were recorded under the day written. This one I rewrote, so I put it on a new day. This happened sometime during the past semester:

Last night, I walked up to order my food and the woman behind the counter was texting... with her gloves on... I made my order, she reached for my pizza, and I added, "And I'd like you to change your gloves before you make it, please. Sorry." Her face changed and she looked at her coworker as if to say, "Did you hear that?"

I felt rude, yet not sorry. If it happened again, I'd do the same thing, and here's why:
1. She should not be texting a work.
2. If she must text behind the counter, her gloves should have been removed. I've always learned that when gloves are on you are committed to what you are doing and nothing else. If you do something else, change your gloves. It's not that hard.
3. Cell phones are among the germiest things on the planet.

I shared this story with my surrogate family because Ruth is more outspoken than I am and she would have had no problem asking the woman to change her gloves. Yes, Ruth definitely agreed with me. My brother Andy, looked and me and said, "That's awful!" I like to think my eyes got huge when he said that because he kind of backpeddled realizing how that could have been interpreted. He then added, "That she did that, I mean; you were in the right."

Why does the right still feel wrong? What would you have done? Sometimes God tells us to do something that is right but it still feels wrong.

What would you have done in the dirty glove situation?
<>< Katie