Hands

I had a roommate in college who loved hands. While I'd never thought about it before then, you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their hands. What they do, what type of life they've led.

We read a scripture in one of my college religion classes that I loved. It quickly became one of my favorites, a scripture that I thought of often...but for some reason could never find. I even remembered where it was on the page, but I could never find it when I went back to look. I tried looking up parts of it in the topical guide, asking people...nothing.

Sunday, I was sitting in Sunday school half paying attention, because I was practically brain dead on Sunday and forming a complete thought was a bit too much for me. When I heard the teacher ask someone to read a scripture in Isaiah. That was it...the scripture I have been trying to remember for at least four years was Isaiah 49:16.

I'm going to quote it here, and I'm going to start with verse 15.

"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands."

The thing that struck me about this scripture, that I had never thought of until the day my teacher mentioned it, is this. Christ has been resurrected, and resurrected beings have perfect bodies. Yet, when we read about the resurrected Christ, it typically mentions the spear marks in his side and the nail prints in his hands. It is a choice for him to maintain those marks on his perfected body. And while I'm sure there are many reasons for that choice, we are literally graven on the palms of his hands. Christ died for us and atoned for our sins so we can live again, he understands better than anyone else our hurts and our fears and our joys. Those nail prints are for us, and how grateful I am for that fact.

It's amazing to me how Heavenly Father puts things in our paths just as we need them. I've been looking for that scripture for four years and for some reason have not been able to find it, yet Sunday, just as I needed the reminder, there it was. I was reading a conference talk tonight and there it was again. A gentle reminder of the love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for each of us, and for me personally.