When I think about it, I realize I take many things for granted. One of them is the ability to use my hands. The other night I looked at my mother's hands and saw how arthritis has slowly crept up and taken over her hands. She is a pianist and has relied on her hands to "pay the bills" and entertain people her whole life. It got me thinking how incredible my hands are. They are useful in the kitchen. With them I am able to bake and cook beautiful gifts from the heart. When I need to fix something or create a craft project, they are the first to help me get it done. When I garden my hands help me get up close with the earth. In the hotter than Hades Texas summers, my hands can wipe the sweat off my forehead while simutanously swatting a mosquito. I can hold the hands of my loved ones and create a sense of security. I can take up a pen and write my intermost secrets in my journal. I need only to look at a special gift as a reminder of the special place hands hold to me. One year when I was teaching, my room parent created a beautiful piece of art that hangs in my house. She was able to get handprints of all my students and collage them in such a creative way while using these words.
"I can change the world
With my own two hands
Make it a better place
With my own two hands
Make it a kinder place
With my own two hands"
It's funny... I know that we don't really see how much we use something until that ability is gone. Maybe that is why I am loving this 30 Days of Gratitude so much – sometimes it's not the material things I have gratitude for but rather the everyday useful things. I'm jus' sayin'!
"We hold in our hands, the most precious gift of all: Freedom. The freedom to express our art. Our love. The freedom to be who we want to be. We are not going to give that freedom away and no one shall take it from us!"
~ Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, Cicely, 1992
"Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain."
~ Carl Jung
What an inspired and eloquent entry. I am now appreciating MY hands! Have a blessed day!
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful teacher's gift! I got....um...socks. Maybe that's why I don't teach anymore...lol. Or maybe, I was only a sock-worthy teacher!
ReplyDeleteThis is just a lovely post. I'm so glad you are participating in the Days of Gratitude because you have so much to offer, and teach us.
Socks in the eyes of my daughter are the most amazing gift-She says socks say that "I care enough to keep you warm" because we loose our body heat from our head and toes. So if you got a fun pair of socks I'm thinking you had some students that really cared! Thank you for nudging me Maggie it's been hard keeping the deadlines and I am only into day 9.
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