Blessing of the Hands

In May of 2011, a new tradition was started during a nursing pinning ceremony at the college where I have worked with nursing students for 11 years. As I observed from the piano where I was quietly playing music, a chaplain anointed the nursing graduates' hands with oil, and said a prayer of blessing over their hands as they launched into their nursing careers. It was one of the most meaningful ceremonies that I had ever attended. 

As I drove home on that evening in 2011, I felt a seed of desire already growing in my heart to have my hands anointed. So, prior to the pinning ceremony in May of 2012, I asked the chaplain if he would anoint my hands after the ceremony. As I sat on the piano bench and held out my hands, I cried as I felt the soothing oil being rubbed into my hands, and I heard the chaplain pray a sweet blessing over my hands as I continued during the days ahead to play the piano, work with students, love and support my son, and make myself available to serve in whatever capacity that God had planned for me. 

I have played the piano since I was seven years-old. In less than two weeks, that will be fifty years. Where has the time gone?

I treasure these words from Barbara Johnson: "How priceless that You anoint me for ministry using my own two hands... Jesus, I want to use my hands the way You used Yours to heal and lift and resurrect lost things in people's lives. I pray the compassion I feel in my heart will find its way to my fingers. Amen."

Psalm 90:17 - "May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;  establish the work of our hands for us- yes, establish the work of our hands."

Lord, I sang as a child that You have the whole world in Your hands. And, I still believe that with every fiber of my being. Please use my hands to serve You as long as there is breath left in me.