The Story Our Hands Tell

“I had many things to write to you,

but I am not willing to write them to you with pen and ink…”

III John 13 a

(New American Standard Bible)

To this day I can still “see” my Grandma’s hands. I can remember each thing that she used her hands for. I remember that her hands were always busy. She was always cooking with them, or doing the wash. She would hang clothes out to dry with her hands, and she could “hang” others out to dry too, when the occasion arose. She sewed things for me with her hands, and she also “talked” with her hands, smile. She “swatted” me a few times with her hands, and she held my babies in her hands as well. She helped to dress me with her hands when I was little, and when I was bigger she would use her hands to fashion my hair into a “special” bun for school field trip days. She could feel if a bone was broken with her hands, and later on in my life she would comfort me with her hands when it was my heart that was broken.

I loved my Grandma’s hands. In them were kindness and love, comfort and care. She didn’t “hold” a wealth of earthly riches in her hands, but she did hold “riches” nevertheless. She held the “richness” of a hard working life and a life characterized by serving others. She wore rings of commitment on her hands, and they bore a testimony to the depth of devotion in her heart.

Have you ever thought about your own hands? There is so much to be said about them. What do your hands hold? What are your hands are holding onto? What is it that your hands have had to let go of? What is it that your hands are reaching for? What is it that they are pulling away from?

Do your hands reach out in love or do they strike out in anger? Do you provide comfort with your hands, or do you use them to inflict pain? Are your hands full to overflowing or are they nearly empty? How many things are you able to “hold” in your hands before having to “drop” some of them?

What do your hands look like? Are they “young” hands or are they “worn” with age? Are they rich with character lines and softness or are they rough and marked by years of hard work? Are your hands manicured and beautiful, or are they too “busy” to be? Do your hands hold those you love, or do they hold onto the things of this world?

Our hands, yes there are so many things to be said about them. But what I love is that the choice of how they will be remembered is ours. Only we can decide how they will be remembered when we are gone. Will we leave a testimony of having hands that were always “open” and giving, or will we be remembered as having a “tight” and closed fist? Will our loved ones be comforted by the memory of our hands, or will their hearts “close” at the very thought of them?

Jesus has scars on His hands. His hands tell the story of His great love and sacrifice for us. He gave to us what only His hands could give, and to this day His hands alone “bear” that distinction. What “story” do your hands tell? God chose to make our hands distinctive only to us. There are no other set of hands that are exactly like yours, or mine. We each have one set of handprints that are unlike anyone else’s. This means that no one else’s hands can ever tell the exact same “story” as your hands can tell. 



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To think about the depth of impact that our hands can have is absolutely amazing to me. Personally, one of the things that I am able to do is to write stories with my hands, in a literal sense. But in the same way, we all “write” with our hands, in a figurative sense. When our day comes to leave this world, we will each leave behind a story that was “written” by our own hands. What story will your hands leave?

Written by Beverley A. Napier on May 19, 2011

Inspired by my Grandma, Marie Katherine Rivera, (aka “Ma)

and the story of love that she “told” to me
and to others, with her hands.