By Our Hand

Bread from a bakery, milk from a farm, corn from a field, clothing from the wool of a lamb – all from the hand of another, honestly and lovingly made.  The time, effort and care ordinary people put into making extraordinary things is a true testament to how God’s hand touches us all. 

We are moved to action by a force unseen and are happy only when our creation produces abundant fruit.  By putting someone else’s needs above our own, we are practicing that noble art of mercy – a clandesdant meeting of labor, heart and love.

Work is not alien to us for it provides us with much satisfaction.  God reveals its true potential – much like the mustard seed, planted in rich soil & tended with sobriety, it becomes what it was meant to be, what He always intended it to be.

A famous sculptor once said, looking at an enormous block of stone, that “his image of what he had seen was always there, it just needed to be chipped away until its birth revealed its true shape.”

Our fascination with work comes from something deep within; an unseen motivation and urge to create.  Call it faith, bred into our bone, the idea that through trial, tribulation, exaltation & ecstasy we are brought to the height of fancy and brought down to earth by His guiding hand and gentle teaching. 

It is only what He wishes us to be that guides us on our journey through life.  Nothing we make on this Earth is not already an idea planted in our mind by God.

Can it be said, “What about all the suffering in the world and all the awful things that we do and create?  Is this the hand of our savior at work?”  Then how can we believe that anything so vile could come from someone so loving, so kind and forgiving?         

You must all remember that God does not put the bullet in the gun, He does not put the knife in the hand of the murderer and He does not create destruction.  It is man who carries this burden.  It is man who makes this decision based on the freedom that God gives to us all – the right to choose. 

To choose our path, our destiny and our hopes for a better world.  We have greatness within ourselves, guided by His hand and through our labors He uncovers what we were truly meant to be.

Our ability to survive, to adapt and to change is what makes each of us so uncommonly human.  For by our hand the world may someday live in eternal peace and by our hand the world’s suffering can be made to cease.

You just call on me brother
When you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on

I just might have a problem
That you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on

May God bless you and keep you in your labors and may He bestow His riches upon us all.  May our works be at His command and may His peace be with you, always.