Hands

The word I have chosen for March is HANDS

My first post for March is taken from my book, Seven Sacred Pauses.  It is a blessing of your hands for the mid-morning pause that I call THE BLESSING HOUR.  We take so much for granted.  A good morning prayer before you go out to meet the day and be obedient to the invitations of the day could be a simple blessing.  Use the one below or create your own. 

INTRODUCTION:

Sit in your favorite chair, stand by a window or choose some soulful place for this blessing prayer.  Hold out your hands in gratitude for their many uses.  Reach out and touch the things that are near you.  Feel the texture of the things you touch.   Think of some of the tasks you have done and  will do this day.   How important are your hands for these tasks?  Now bring your hands  to a comfortable resting place on your lap or held up in a gesture of praise.

O Source of  Life,  you lifted me out of the earth,  From your hands I have come.  I place my hands in the welcoming  hands of your heart and pray for a sweet anointing in this mid-morning hour.  Anoint my hands with tender awareness.   Anoint my hands with compassionate touch.   Anoint my hands with sacred energy.  Give success to the work of my hands this day.  Help me remember  my potential to reach out and touch things to life.   Give me spirit hands.  Fill my hands with insightful consciousness.  Let me see with my hands the way those who are blind see.   May all that I touch be transformed into an instrument of grace.  O Holy One, anoint these hands and use them for healing all through the day. May it come to pass.
        -taken from Seven Sacred Pauses:  Living mindfully through the Hours of the Day  
         Sorin Books, Notre Dame, Indiana