With a house full of young children and so many demands on their time, my parents were attending a formal dinner. They were all dressed up and enjoying the conversation. At one point in the dinner, Mom looked down at her hands and quickly excused herself to use the restroom to give herself a chance to wipe the tears that filled her eyes. She had given herself to her work and in that moment she saw the effect of that work on her hands.
When the resurrected Savior appeared to His apostles in the old world, His disciples in the new and so many others, He did so with outstretched hands. He invited them to come see the marks in His hands, a constant reminder of His love and sacrifice for us. So they would understand that He could never forget them, He reminded, “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands…” (Isaiah 49:16)
That night when my mother looked at her hands, she also
saw the marks of her love and sacrifice. She saw the work of teaching her children to work, the cultivation of a garden and beautiful flowers, meals prepared, and back scratches at night. Those hands taught me how to clean a mirror, hold and feed a baby, change a diaper, iron a shirt, and soothe a fevered brow. Those hands turned the pages of the books she read for herself and to us, they wrote out notes of love, played the piano and cheered for me. Her hands wrote scriptures on cards that she taught us to memorize and carried a red cassette player her through the house so she could hear the words of prophets. Those hands have been clasped in prayer for her loved ones and have so often calmed my fears.
“Christ did not just speak about love; He showed it each day of His life….Jesus reached out to the one. He rescued the lost… He not only taught but also showed us how to ‘succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.’” (President Dieter F. Uchtorf, April 2010)
When our hands reach out to care for and to lift the hands, minds and hearts of the children of God we are doing His work and He “will not leave [us] comfortless. [He] will come to [us].” (John 14:18)