I can remember few things about my early childhood but I remember holding my mother’s hand at the store and, as I got older, holding her finger, so only we would know. Then I remember holding my own daughter’s hand and how special that was and how sad dad was when she got too old for that. Our final hand holding was done just a few weeks ago, when I walked hand in hand with her down the aisle at her wedding.
I have held hands in prayer with men and women for 45 years. I have held hands with men in India, where that is a common custom. The fact that they would do that with me was a great honor, one that I am forever grateful for and cherish. If they were that comfortable with me, that is indeed an honor. I see hand holding in the huddle in football and in other team sports.
Now, the best hand holding is with someone you love and care about. My mom, my daughter, my wife are all the ones I have and do hold hands with and it matters. I will confess to holding hands in my sleep with my “girlfriend”, my wife. It just feels right and brings me great comfort.
Now why am I waxing nostalgic about hand holding? It is because in the Psalms, the writer says God wants to hold our hand. Now, this is why that thought matters. In those days, as well as these days, few people understood that God wanted a personal relationship with every person. All other living things, all of creation, was already holding hands with God. This idea, holding hands with God, was foreign to them and I suspect it is foreign to most people today.
Jesus came to show us what holding hands with God looks like in life. That is the great Mystery, we can hold hands with the Creator of the Universe. Jews and Gentiles alike never understood that and I am saddened by seeing that no one today seems to believe it either. So, today, if you will simply open your hand, what you will discover is that the Eternal already had hold of it, from the moment you were born. Give it squeeze, you will enjoy the squeeze back.
TMM