The bible says, out of context: "let not your left hand know what your right hand does." Sometimes though I think we accidentally carry that principal too far.

Being a non-mutant person (sorry Robert!) my right hand is the one that I expect to be the most beat up. After all, I have done a lot of hard labor over the years - cutting and splitting wood, construction work, general ornery boy kinds of stuff, etc. When I reach for a hot iron and bum my fingers, it is going to be the right one that did it. When I stick my hand out and get bit by a dog, its the right again. In fact in just about every "learning experience" moment I've ever had, it was the right hand that got the worst of it. My right hand is the one with the "A" personality, that sticks itself out there recklessly, but reliably. The hand that gets things done, is unafraid to grasp opportunity and hold things dear.

When my son was born, it was probably my right hand that reached out and stroked his cheek tenderly. It was also my right hand that swung the paddle when communication to the other end of him wasn't working. It is my right hand that signed the check for the last payment of my first car, drove the last nail when I finished my latest addition (it was a roofing nail), turned the last bolt when I swapped out an engine. My right hand gets to do all the "fun stuff' while my left hand... well, what about it?

My left hand is the most scarred, surprisingly, and by far. It has been cut, burned, stabbed, crushed, hammered, poked, and generally abused. My left hand has a "B" personality, much more passive, and in fact when I reach out with it the grasp is awkward and clumsy, because it is assuming a role it is not practiced in and is indeed "unnatural" for me. It is useless to sign my name, but perfect to hold the paper. You could call it lighting with a hammer (think about it!) but it holds nails fearlessly and steady. It does what it does without equal; while the left can't seem to take the lead, the right hand similarly fails miserably in being useful to it when both roles are reversed.

Funny thing - there is ONE mind that guides them both to work in concert. Literally. Oh I suppose there are some people who have two minds about something but Eric talked about that last week (smile!). In general, that one mind does not hate the one and favor the other, but that one mind has a goal it wants to accomplish and the two hands have critical roles to play to accomplish that greater good. We understand that, the idea is obvious and simple.

Yet in the church, even in NT times, there was a problem. Some were given to have different roles, and some thought more of themselves than they ought. The one mind - Christ - who should have been guiding them all was in a way ignored. Some felt their importance made them great, and others of "lesser" importance made them small. It caused, apparently, everyone to want to be the eye, or in my case here the "right" hand. But having two right hands would be a disaster. To function in the best manner, to function as the Lord designed me, I need both a left and a right hand. I can get along without either but to work WELL I need them both. Neither is more important than the other. Obvious, and simple.

Thus today I encourage us to consider one another more graciously, and consider ourselves more humbly. Instead of judging one another, simply serve, being ever mindful that even in serving we must be careful not to trample over others. We cannot blindly serve and declare that is too bad if someone else doesn't like it, as if that were some "excuse."

For you see, who is it that crushed my left hand, and has stabbed it, burned it, hammered it, poked it, and put all those scars on it, in spite of it being passive and simply trying to help? The one who was holding the knife, or torch, or hammer. My right hand. One mind guiding both, yet still harm can be done. Think about it.

Randy