The Hands Of Time

Psalm 31:15a – My times are in Your hand. (NKJV)

My mother did not live to see any of her grandchildren get married. She was a wonderful grandmother and she would have loved to have seen her grandchildren enter into holy matrimony, but it was not to be.

During the last years of her life, she embroidered a number of plain ladies' handkerchiefs with little flowers on them and little designs along the edges. She did a fair number of them, and after her death, one of my sisters gave one to each of several of my mother's grandchildren.

Our oldest daughter was one who received a handkerchief. A little over a year ago, one of her daughters was married. The photographer asked my wife, our daughter, and her daughter — the bride — to put their hands in a sort of a fanlike configuration on top of my mother's handiwork. It showed the hands of time: the handkerchief and the hands of three generations, the aging process clearly visible in these three hands. It made a moving photograph: hands expressing the passing of time, the past, the present, and the future.

God's hands are very important as symbols of His grace and blessing in the Bible. "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV) God's hand will hold us up in times of trouble. In the New Testament, there is the story of parents and perhaps grandparents bringing their little children to Jesus. I can picture them holding the little children's hands and coming through the city gate to where Jesus was sitting and talking to the people. As the Bible says, "Then little children were brought to [Jesus] that He might put His hands on them and pray." (Matthew 19:13a NKJV) Those parents and grandparents knew the importance of the little children being blessed by Jesus' hands.

Think of the hands that you have known: those of your father, your mother, your little children, your friend, or spouse. Think of the joy that you receive when you hold hands, or the comfort that you express when you hold the hand of a shut-in, a person in the hospital, or a friend in need. Think of how God's hand supports us when we need it most.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we thank You that we can experience and express love by holding the hands of someone who needs comfort. We thank You for the assurance that You hold our hands in a spiritual way in times of need. We thank You, in Jesus' name. Amen.

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