Able to lift my hands

A decade ago I woke up one morning, after having a significant back problem, with the loss of nerves in my right foot.  The nerve(s) that would pull my toes up was dead or dying and others caused weakness in my foot.  Through surgery and therapy and my own personal will, it never came back.  The loss caused a number of changes including sports; I loved to play racquetball and it was over.  After trying several times, the rolled ankles, trips, crashing into the wall, made me re-think the future.


This morning, standing in church with my hands raised to the only living God, I realized how blessed I was to be able to do that.  The longer I sang, the more my heart was pulled heavenward and my arms began to ache, but they remained lifted and aching, as I even called for an angle to support them.


What struck me was the fact that I was able to lift hands and keep them lifted for a very long time; but what if you never used those muscles to lift your arms?  My mom will be 87 this year and she has difficulty moving her hand to her ear; the muscles just don't work any more.

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King David, whose heart was God's, felt the need to lift up his hands when he wrote this:
"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands . My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you." Psalm 63:1-5 NIV

Anyone who has every exercised knows the pain that comes the next few days when starting back into an activity; stretching, running, basketball, anything not done for a while, will cause pain when we start doing it. Read David's words again; at what ever place you find yourself in life on this planet, God still wants to have a relationship with you... with you.


David says:  "earnestly I seek you"; "my soul thirsts for you"; "my body longs for you", "in a dry and weary land where there is no water."  That is so where I find myself at times, in a desert land of life; hot and thirsty, wasting away.  


I raise my hands and arms up to the Lord who made everything and keeps everything held together, because I can and because I long for His embrace.  David's words are what I desire to express with major gratitude to the ONE who has given it all.  I do not regret the loss that I experience in this life, but enjoy what is around me and that which I see; for I am a man rich by what my heavenly Father is.