1 Corinthians says, “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then we will see face to face,” KJV.
My grandmother has always had, “ugly” hands, in her words.I think back in the day when she grew up women paid more attention to their hands than we do now- or at least more than I never ever paid to mine! Regardless her hands aren’t beautiful in the traditional sense; they are spotted with age, her fingers are a little knobby and her veins stand out on the back of her hands. She always said her veins are so large because of how she always had to milk cows growing up, I think heredity plays a bigger role but of course I never mentioned it. Still she always gets a hint of pride in her voice when she mentions how her father used to praise those ugly hands for their good milking abilities.
My hands aren’t the prettiest either, but they know how to do a lot of things and the work I do with my hands puts bread on the table so I have never despised how my hands look. I always think back to the part in, Little Women, when when their father comes home from war and praises Meg’s hands, that though they are no longer soft and smooth, they have worked hard and become calloused through helping her family during a difficult time.
One day when I was visiting with Grandma she looked down and mentioned her ugly hands. This caused me to look down at my hands and realize that my hands were not looking too gorgeous at the moment either. “Grandma, my hands are the same way- look.” I said placing my hand in hers, “Golly, they are aren’t they,” she said before catching herself and apologizing and her inadvertent insult of my own hands!
I chuckled to myself on my drive home that day. But it did cause me to sit and think for a moment. She always viewed her hands as ugly, I always viewed our hands as strong, and hard working; hers even more so than mine. Think of all the things those hands know how to do; milking cows, sewing, baking, cooking! She is one of the best seamstresses, really. She had a business for a while before deciding that she much preferred sewing just for family. My grandfather did not have a shirt or suit jacket that my grandma didn’t make. She is a great cook and baker and has always made the best peanut brittle! To me her hands are not ugly because I know the beauty they have brought to this world. So much of reality is our perception. To me her hands are lovely, but it’s all a matter of how we view the world, and what lens we use as our filter. 1 Corinthians says, “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then we will see face to face,” KJV. What are we looking at in this world through a dark glass? What things that God has blessed us with do we choose to view as an inconvenience rather than a blessing in the first place? What a reminder to view everything through the lens of God’s Word, for it is the only true lens.
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