CLEOEJACKSONIII.COM
  • My Home Page
  • My Life and Ministry
  • My Ongoing Thoughts
  • My Favorite Bible Verses
  • My Favorite Stories
  • My Favorite Jokes
  • My Favorite Quotations
  • My Favorite Web Links
  • My Contact Info
"Helping Others Communicate"

BIG GLOVES TO FILL

6/13/2013

 
Most pastors spend the week thinking about their upcoming Sunday   sermon.  I am no different.  This week in particular, with Father’s Day approaching, as I have been preparing for my weekly message, I have also been thinking a lot about my own father.  He passed on to Heaven thirteen years ago.  But he lives on in this world through the influence he had upon those he knew and loved.

One thing always seems to stand out among all the memories from my childhood with regard to my father:  his hands.  I remember them well.  As a little boy, they seemed so large to me.  I studied them often.  I knew every square inch of their surface.  I also whiled away many a moment in church, sitting on the pew next to him, pulling, poking, and prodding his fingers. 

One other thing I often did was to compare my hands to his. I was pretty sure, even as a child, that one day my hands would be as big as his; but I knew instinctively that the process of getting them there would not be easy. For my hands to be like his, I realized that mine would have a lot of growing to do.  
 
In retrospect, I thank God for those hands.  They protected me.  They provided for me.  They directed  me.  And when necessary, they even disciplined me.  Above all, though, they loved me.  I long for the day when I will see those hands again.   

In the meantime, I pray for the strengthening of my own hands; for I know that I have three children of my own who have, in all probability, studied them in turn.  Pray for me, I have big gloves to fill.

I thought I would close today by posting the following poem, My Dad’s Hands, written by David Kettler.  It seems to encompass my thoughts this day quite well.

MY DAD’S HANDS

Bedtime came, we were settling down, 
I was holding one of my lads. 
As I grasped him so tight, I saw a strange sight: 
My hands... they looked like my dad's! 

I remember them well, those old gnarled hooks, 
there was always a cracked nail or two. 
And thanks to a hammer that strayed from its mark, 
his thumb was a beautiful blue! 

They were rough, I remember, incredibly tough, 
as strong as a carpenter's vice. 
But holding a scared little boy at night, 
they seemed to me awfully nice! 

The sight of those hands - how impressive it was 
in the eyes of his little boy. 
Other dads' hands were cleaner, it seemed 
(the effects of their office employ). 

I gave little thought in my formative years 
of the reason for Dad's raspy mitts: 
The love in the toil, the dirt and the oil, 
rusty plumbing that gave those hands fits! 

Thinking back, misty-eyed, and thinking ahead, 
when one day my time is done. 
The torch of love in my own wrinkled hands 
will pass on to the hands of my son. 

I don't mind the bruises, the scars here and there, 
or the hammer that just seemed to slip. 
I want most of all when my son takes my hand, 
to feel that love lies in the grip.*
 
*SOURCE:  
http://www.fathersdaycelebration.com/fathers-day-poems.html.

Comments are closed.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All