MY MOTHER'S HANDS

Sunday, May 11, 2008

This world has many wonders,
God’s many vistas grand;
But none can ever rival
The beauty of Mother’s hands.
Wilma Heffelfinger

A mother was visiting her daughter and asked her to go shopping with her. The daughter didn’t normally like to go shopping with other people and was not a very patient person. But since it was her mother she set off for the mall. They visited many stores and her mother tried on dress after dress, rejecting them all. As the day wore on the daughter grew weary and frustrated.

Finally, at their last stop the mother tried on a lovely blue three-piece dress. The daughter watched as her mother tried with great difficulty to tie the bow. Her hands were so badly crippled from arthritis that she couldn’t do it. Immediately, the daughter’s impatience gave way to and overwhelming wave of compassion for her mother. She tied the bow for her mother and they bought the dress.

For the rest of the day the daughter had in her mind the vision of her mother’s hands trying to tie the bow. She said, “Those loving hands that had fed me, bathed me, dressed me, caressed and comforted me, and most of all, prayed for me, were now touching me in a most remarkable manner.”