Hand in Hand

Nate was big on shaking hands. As many men do, he’d shake hands hello and goodbye, and shake the hand of someone introduced to him for the first time, both men and women. He’d also shake the hands of our children’s friends as they arrived to our home, whether youngsters or teens. He especially liked shaking the hands of his own four sons.

If he saw them first thing in the morning, his greeting was always accompanied by a hand shake. Meeting them at a restaurant? A hand shake. Bumping into them at church? A hand shake. In his view, at no time was it ever inappropriate to shake a hand.

Touching another person with a warm gesture — a pat on the back, a hug, a tap on the arm, a hand shake – though brief is enough to reveal what one person thinks of another. It also makes it easier to move forward into whatever comes next, even if it’s a difficult conversation.

Jesus was a good model of positive touching, never missing a chance to touch someone in need, to heal, encourage, or just be kind. I don’t know if shaking hands was in vogue in Jesus’ day, but being a hands-on person probably meant then what it means today: “I’m interested in you.”

One of the most famous paintings of all time was done on the ceiling of Rome’s Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo’s multi-paneled masterpiece crescendos in the highly-charged image of God reaching toward man in a painting entitled “The Creation of Adam.” The hand-to-hand gesture between them was probably as close to a handshake as people got in the year 1512.

Scripture is another place where potent but helpful hand-touching can be found. For example, the disciple John was given a vision of heaven and told to write down what he saw so the rest of us would have some idea of what it will be like. Jesus had left earth for heaven decades before, so when John saw Jesus in the vision, he was overcome with emotion and went face-to-the-floor.

Jesus bent down and put his right hand on John, a hand-touch that communicated love and acceptance. He urged him not to be afraid but to get up and be ready to write down what he would see. That hand on John gave him the confidence to respond as Jesus asked.

The Lord is all for appropriate touching, and some say we can actually “be his hands” here on earth. Then he takes our human touch and injects his supernatural power into it, causing people to move forward through the tough stuff of life.

I wonder how Jesus will greet us when we arrive in heaven. Handshakes all around? Group hugs? Back pats? Whatever it is, I know we’ll welcome it, “hands-down.”

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.’ ” (Revelation 1:17)

An Abundant Life?

Today I met a train Nelson stepped off of after being abroad for a month. My oldest son is a well-traveled man, having literally circumnavigated the globe, making lots of stops along the way. He flies over oceans like I drive to Walmart and never tires of travel, even in 3rd world settings. This is partly because creature-comforts aren’t that important to him.

Years ago Nelson said he hoped never to own more than could fit into one suitcase. Though he’s owned and operated a couple of businesses since then which necessitated larger-than-suitcase possessions, for the most part he’s remained close to his goal.

Nelson has experienced the freedom that comes with owning little. Granted, he doesn’t have a family with its accompanying need for “stuff,” but living life with a focus on trimming possessions to a minimum is a worthy objective for any of us. But keeping life simple isn’t easy, and because we so often fail at this, an entire industry has been developed to help us.

Life coaches guide individuals in the how-to’s of uncomplicating their lives, and TV’s reality shows about hoarding show us what can happen if we don’t. Most of us know deep down that we’re just one garage-full away from the same out-of-control scenario.

So we buy books and magazines that promise solutions to our overstuffed lives: Real Simple, Simplify Everything, How to Simplify Your Life, and Everything You Wanted to Know about Simplifying Your Life. Cover art for these publications stands out as different from the rest. Just looking at them makes us relax our jaws and take a breath.

And that’s the thing about simplifying: it stands out; we stand out. Living an uncluttered life of minimums goes against the grain of a society that’s currently promoting consumerism, accumulation, and the maxim that “he who has the most toys wins.” To live simply requires backbone enough to buck the norm.

When we moved from Illinois to Michigan in 2009, I learned how hard it was to simplify. Two packed houses had to be trimmed to fit one, which meant parting with lots and lots of possessions. The many resulting mini-separations produced stress, but when it was all over, our lives had been streamlined to our benefit. It felt much like going on a diet and losing all the excess weight. Lighter meant less, and less was simpler, and simpler felt pretty good.

Self-control is one of the gifts God’s Spirit is willing to give us if we’ll be intentional about following his lead, and in the case of simplifying, that translates to keeping a tight rein on accumulation. After all, Jesus didn’t even own enough to fill one suitcase.

And speaking of suitcases, it sure is nice to have Nelson home again. It didn’t take any time at all for him to settle in. When you live light, unpacking is easy.

“One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15)

Needing Help

Tonight my blog site has a few additions: the cover of my book and a photo of Jack and me at the beach. My accommodating son-in-law, Adam, has faithfully managed www.GettingThroughThis.com since its inception three years ago and has been my go-to guy for problems of any kind.

Now, as a result of his fine work, my little devotional book is available in the margin and can be ordered by clicking on any of the web addresses beneath its picture. It will be ready for shipping next week, and my prayer has been and will continue to be that people who are swamped with grief over losing a mate will secure a copy and be uplifted by the short daily devotionals inside.

When I first posted on this web site, I had no idea I’d one day write a book that would be available in the margin. But then again I had no idea back then that widowhood would be the subject line. Of course God saw all of that and even now sees what might be posted in the margin next year at this same time. None of us should put anything past God’s doing.

One thing I’ve learned, though, is that whenever God puts opportunity in our path, he also puts helpers and encouragers there, too. Adam has been both of those for me in my relationship with this web site. Over time he has good-naturedly taught me how to use its features, and that has meant many repeated explanations of the same web task, over and over.

But Adam is a patient young man, and never once has he criticized his non-techy mother-in-law for being a slow learner. Because of that I don’t ever hesitate to ask him new questions, and I never worry he might respond harshly. God was the one who put him next to me in this web undertaking, and in these three years I’ve gotten to know him well enough to believe that even when I’m not around, he isn’t complaining about me. The fact that he married into our family was, as Nate often said, “a home run.”

Adam has taught us all by his example. He’s been willing to be used of the Lord in the lives of others, and because of that, God has used him. And the good news is that any of us can follow suit and experience that same lofty privilege of being a tool in God’s hands. So if we want our lives to count for something valuable, something permanent, all we need to do is tell the Master, “I’m available” (as Adam has), and God will do the rest.

“If anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21)