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We've had such a marvelous response to this week's Mother's Day video that we're going to keep running it through Sunday. So instead of a new video, here's a Mother's Day blog for the week-end. Hope it encourages you to make some unique memories this Sunday!
I have lots of photographs of my mother and father at different times in their lives. I have furniture and books they left behind. But it's the notations in the books that are precious to me. It's the scratch on the table and the memory of the dropped hammer that made the scratch that I love more than the table itself.
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Actually, I never think about hands in this senario. Realy, I came to know that it is the greatest blessing of Allah for us.If any part of the body is suffered in pain ,these hands try to make them heal.Without hands our life is meaningless.But the hands of the mother is a marvelous thing for the toddler.We should not forget those hand through out our life. The greatest action in this life is that these hands should be folded before our Lord.
Thanks for Greate Inspiration
Babar
dear mother martha,
i love you because you are my mommy. i love you very very very very much !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love,
isabel rose williamson andersen the first
More than 20 years ago I began noticing hands. My minds eye would see my dad's, grandparents and the strange webbed fingers on the hands of a dear neighbor as well as the 2 fingers missing hand on a local carpenter. I remember being afraid of a WWII veteran who had an artificial hand until I got to know him. I missed them.
So I began asking people special to me if I could have their hand print. Not one has ever refused. We'd take a piece of paper (even a newspaper) and I'd draw around it as I explained my reason for wanting it.
Some of those people have gone home now, some are struggling with disease, some have teenagers out of control and some are going through divorce and many more are just engaged in the ups and downs of life...and they (like me) all need prayer.
Now when I pray, I place my hand on their hand, I feel connected to that person and with my eye's closed tell Jesus what I remember about them especially the part they can't see about themselves. Troubles, stress and disease show on ones face, but that ever present Jesus is imprinted in them and it is beautiful when He helps you look deep.
Judy Davis
Martha, your article 'The Hands of Love' was truly heart rendering. Many times, I have blamed myself that I'm not very good with certain activities like drawing, and sewing. But later I began to count on the things I was good at like writing, typing, cooking, etc. After reading this article, I has made me realise how fortunate I am as the hands are truly one of God's gifts without which we can't imagine leaving. I'm thankful for my hands and for the service it has helped me perform so far. I pray that I continue to use my hands only for good deeds in the future too and to bless the labor of my hands.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Flora
Hi Martha...
Once again you have inspired me & given me the courage to do something that I don't feel like doing...forgive my mother, AGAIN. I thought that I had & yet more time spent with her brings up more uncomfortableness. I do uncomfortable well & I will keep forgiving her for her ugliness (unkind behaviors) & I will pray & know that she is a sick person...not a bad person.
When I read your blog, I thought of my loving & kind grandmother who passed on to the next life 1 1/2 years ago, at the age of (one month short of) 99. It is her hands that I think of & picture when I need the comfort & love of a mother & friend. I will never look at my hands the same again....smiles & smooches, Lori:)
Hi Martha.
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement on this Mother's Day. I'm a 22-year old missionary who has been serving in Alaska for two years now and I haven't been able to see my mother since I left home. Mother's Day these past few years have been especially difficult for me because my mom's birthday also falls on May 11th. I know that God sent me here, but days like today are quite difficult.
It's been two years since I had any physical human contact: no hugs from my father or brother, no kisses from my mother. God is teaching me to take neither a family's love nor a friend's support for granted. Through it all, my relationship with God has flourished and my faith in the Lord has established itself as a foundation for the rest of my life, wherever it may lead.
I praise the Lord that I have internet access to read and watch your blogs. Thanks again!
I thank you for this article. I have a lonely feeling today for my mother and my grandmother.
I remember when I was a child putting my hand in my grandmother's hand how soft they were and how smooth. Later in her life they begin to wrinkle but they were the hands that raise me hugged me and taught me of The Lord. She could not write her name but she taught me how to read the Bible. Thank God for Grandmothers that knew The Lord.
Thank God for My Mother that prayed for me when I was lost.
Thanks Martha for your beutiful writings everyday that I look forward to reading.
We are going to get the camera out and take all of our hands together.
Fran
As usual, God has let me know He is still here with me holding my hand, through your blog, "The Hands of Love". I have a spinal cord injury which has rendered me unable essentially to 'move' for almost five years. But I have been blessed with being able to use my hands. I use them to type this now as I remember the love and compassion in the hands of my beloved mother still blessedly here and my loving grandmother holding Jesus' hand in person now. As they guided me all these years, I hope that the memory of me will include such love. Through the grace of God I have held the precious gifts of life He entrusted me with; held their hands; and soothed and comforted them as I had been. I've been blessed to write, to touch, to feel; to hold the hands of my grandchildren and a great-grandson. Although I couldn't see my mother in person for Mother's Day, I was able to let her know I loved her because of these hands. No matter how 'empty' it all seems to get, I find there is always 'something, some little reminder, to hang on to. My favorite song has always been "He Touched Me". I believe that is why "Touched By An Angel was so successful. It seems such a 'simple' thing, "touch". Just look in your heart. look at your hands, and close your eyes and remember your mother, your grandmother, and 'feel' the touch of their hands. I use this also when I feel like I just can't endure another day, and I feel the hands of my God touching me and leading me to be able to move and to walk again. Thank you for the ray of sunshine. Donna
I sometimes study my hands as I see them aging slowly. I guess because I work with my hands, I'm a hairstylist, that I notice little things about them. However I am so thankful for the talent that my hands create - with them I get to make people look better and therefore feel bettter about themselves. People have told me that my hands have such a nice touch. I know that God gave me not only this skill but these hands to do this with and I will continue to do it until I just can't do it anymore. They are definitely part of my purpose hear on earth.
Have a great day.
Thanks Martha, very beautifully said. We take our hands for granted every day.
But without them were lost. The hands do what we tell them to do, and we should
use them only to do good in this world, and the most important task is to pray.
We are truly blessed having you on line with all this inpirational information.
God Bless you and your family always. Marci
In looking at a number of photographs of hands of brides and grooms I decided to start taking photos of the hands of people who were important to me....I highly suggest your other readers do the same...as soon as possible. Later, when the pictures are developed, you can sit and study the subject's hands and remember what all each played in your life and you'll be surprised how much you could journal. You'll recall moments and events you'd forgotten. I had waited till my grandmother's hand bones were gnarled and knotted before I did this, and it pained me to remember what all she'd been through in her lifetime, not having the medical treatment for arthritis we have today. So, get your camera and start taking lots of pictures...I promise you won't regret it.
sunday was a very sad day for my family.I lost my mom august 27 2008 she went to the hospital for a simple operation but died 3 days later, My grandchildren lived with her all there life a very short 14 for one 12 for the other and 6 for the baby.. not long enough to know a sweet giving, loving person . My mom was the rock of our family, she never gave up even whe her life was so diffulcult.. Now I am left to pick up the pieces to carry on to fill the void,, but I cant. since my mom died the kids have moved in with me and I have lost my job.. we are falling apart we have always been a close family but now there is just us.. no where to turn and no one to help..I have not talked about this to anyone.. but I wake up every day and look to see what Martha has to say .She gives me hope when hope seems so far away..I miss my mother so much but in her honor I cant give up. So I pray every day to my god to not leave me I need him so much now...sorry this was so long..I will pray for you all and hope you pary for me... p
I have looked at my hands often now that i'm older. They have been through a lot of things
with me but i believe arthritis is the only thing i look back on that i don't like.
My hands have served me well and i Praise God i can still use them. Thank you for reminding me that The Lord is still holding them. Merelyne
This is beautiful...........I've always heard that its the "laugh lines" on our face that tell our story and the life we led but now I see its really about the hands and the wonderful instrument it has been and will always be in our lives past, present and future!
I must say that I have never actually looked at my hands and sensed what this grandmother sensed, but I think that I shall remember and share with my daughters and grand-daughters.
Thanks for that sweet remembrabce.
Joyce
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