A Mother's Hands

Someone has said, "The joy of motherhood is what a woman experiences when all the children have gone to bed." Mothers have the most difficult and rewarding job in the world. Their role, however, constitutes more than just a job -- it is a spiritual stewardship and a divine calling.

In Proverbs 31, King Lemuel paints a beautiful picture of an exemplary wife and mother. In his description he has much to say about her hands (see vv. 10, 13, 17, 19-20). It appears that Lemuel took notice of the powerful lessons his mother's hands were teaching him throughout the formative years of his life.

In a mother's touch, there is a wonderful mixture of tenderness and toughness. She possesses a softness in her hands that makes her appear weak and vulnerable, and yet a firmness to remove the lid on a pickle jar that nobody else can budge. In her touch, there is passion, patience, perception, and precision. A mother's hands speak a language that still whispers to our hearts long after her physical presence is gone. When you reflect on the hands of your mother, what comes to your mind? Let me share a few personal reflections with you.

1. A Mother's Hands are Resourceful. The woman described in Proverbs 31 uses her hands to sow the fields, purchase real estate, clothe her household, and care for the needy. Her hands give her life balance and enable her to do many things well simultaneously. Although while growing my family wasn't materially rich, we discovered our wealth disguised in our stay-at-home mother. Her hands were compulsively industrious and we learned from her creativity. Like a few small loaves and fishes in the Lord's hands, the hands of a good mother seem to be able to produce something from nothing.

2. A Mother's Hands are Revealing. She is a rudder on the family ship that gives sure direction to the home. It would seem that more than one Jochebed has used her hands to build a proverbial ark of bulrushes to protect her Moses. And then carefully and strategically laid him in the flow of life that led him to a successful place. A mother's hands carry us to places we could not go for ourselves, and they lift us to positions that would otherwise be unobtainable. In 1 Timothy 5:14, the younger women are challenged to "marry, bear children, guide the house, and give the adversary no occasion for slander."


3. A Mother's Hands are Resilient. In 1 Samuel 2:19, we are told that Samuel's "mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year." Although Hannah had given her son to the Lord, her hands never ceased to touch his life. Her annual visits and her abiding love were a constant in little Samuel's life. No matter how old her children may be, a mother's hands are always ready to impart a comforting and nurturing touch. Isaiah 66:13 compares God's love to a mother's love and says, "As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you." Her loving hands are a reflection of her Creator's image.


As I watch my mother aging (and doing so quite gracefully, mind you), her hands are changing with time. I notice wrinkles and spots that serve as badges of honor. The lines on her palms are trophies from battles she has fought and won. Her hands are not as strong as they used to be, likely because they gave me and my siblings their strength. But, no matter what they look like, her hands will always remain beautiful to us.