His Hand

Anyone who has ever parented a child probably has, somewhere in their possession, this kind of artwork. It might be paint on paper or an impression left in clay or plaster of paris... the mark of a tiny hand, captured for posterity. This one is pretty typical -- and uniquely wonderful and special as they all seem to those of us who receive them and display them with great joy when they come to us from our own little ones.

One of the things that is so "typical" about this one is the orientation of it. It is done upright, with the fingers pointing toward the top. It is exactly the way I imagine most of these sorts of pieces are done. It is the way that the ones I always got from my children were done, and it is the way that I've done them with countless children along the way. It is THE way we do these things. Because it is.

A week ago, we traveled to visit Master's grown daughter. She and her boyfriend have recently purchased their first home, and have been eager to show it off. She had also just celebrated a birthday, and so our trip was a combined visit to the new abode, a birthday celebration, and a late father's day observance. Part of what happened during that visit was that she brought out a box of items that she had gotten from her mother's house when she moved which were not hers and which she believed might belong to her Dad (long complicated story). The two of them went through the odds and ends in the box, sorting and sifting and reminiscing. There wasn't a lot and most of it wasn't anything that He especially cared about.

However.

Tucked way at the bottom of the box, all wrapped up in newspaper was this plaster impression of a child's hand...


This is His Hand. This, He thinks, He did in Sunday School (yes, The Heretic once went to Sunday School) when He was very small. It has His name etched into the back, although there is no date.

Isn't it fabulous?

Even more amazing to me -- notice where the hanger is. This child's hand was made, oh so many years ago to hang, not with the fingers upright, as almost all are, but in this "sideways" (spanking?) position. I think it was prophetic, and that is exactly the way I have this little bit of precious artwork hung on the wall near the bed -- right where I'll see it when my eyes open each morning.

swan