Pen and Paint Ponderings with Karen and Karen
by Karen Wilk (writer) and Karen Tamminga-Paton (painter)
Karen Tamminga-Paton has done numerous paintings of hands and there is something about them that invites us to consider all of life, and in particular our relationships with one another and creation. Take a moment to look at her painting. Take another moment to pay attention to your own hands and perhaps those of others around you. Think about all the bones, muscles, joints, veins and all the other intricacies and abilities of hands! What do you notice? What do they do well? With what do they struggle? How do they bless? How have they treated whatever they touch and how have they been treated? Ponder the painting again and read the following out loud. How will you receive and use the gift of hands today?
Hands
Worn, wrinkled
Worked, working,
Stained.
God gave us hands
Hands to make and mold
Hands to have and hold
Young hands, soft and bold
Aching, cracked hands, grown old.
God gave us hands
To raise in praise
To clap and sing, write and play
To cook, to wash and point the way.
God gave us hands
To garden and gather
To lend and to share
To till and to tend
To reach out and care.
To feel and to grow
To make right
and seek to know…
But we have taken those hands
Misused and abused them
Hurt, enslaved, and refused them
They’ve been squeezed too tight
Cuffed, cut, burnt, and made to fight
Rolled up from open, to fisted
Gone from giving to grabbing
Selfish, savage, twisted…
And still, Creator loves those hands
And holds them wholly close to God’s heart
Each unique, embodied Holy art
Cherished, precious, irreplaceable
Full of potential, fully valuable
So much so that God made them
His Own
Gathering heaven and earth in One
Healing, helping, embracing Son
Suffering all,
til all is done.
God gave us hands-
Beauty and opportunity
Creator’s creativity
Spirit’s possibility
Incarnate Infinity
Tangible Divinity
Inviting our receptivity…
God gave us hands.
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What do you need this Lenten Season? What are you longing for as you look towards Easter? How can we create Beauty from the Ashes of the past two years?
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