Clenched fists or Open hands

I shared this on facebook a little while ago and thought I would share it here too.


this is what's on my mind this evening and thought I would jot down my thoughts.    these are just my thoughts, that's all.    but my thoughts can be dangerous for me sometimes and these were.    kinda made me take a second look at me. the images are everywhere.    oh, you may not even pay any attention to them now, we've seen them so much here lately. but when I see the images, I see something I don't like. what are the images?    if you have read this far, you may be curious. the images of the "upraised clenched fist".    when I see them, it almost makes me sick to my stomach. and I seen an image this afternoon and it just stuck.    I knew I would have to knuckle down and make sense out of why it just makes me sick.    like I said earlier, this is my assessment and I'm not asking for anyone's approval of my thoughts or comments either.

a little digging and this is what I learned about the upraised clenched fist. it signifies threat, rejection, arrogance, exclusion, refusal, ready to fight, anger and violence.    I think we've seen a lot of all of these traits in the last few weeks.    we've seen the clenched fists out in the streets committing heinous crimes.    I don't know about anyone else, but it has just about made me sick. sometimes, I would like to know how people could have so much hate on the inside of them.    then, I remember that at one point in time, I had just as much hate on the inside of me as the people we've seen of late, still have on the inside of them.

then a little more digging also showed me what the open hand means.    it means friendship, help, peace, sharing, humility, communication and connection. to be honest, that's something we've not seen a lot of these days.    that's what's missing these days. it's not missing because the church doors have been shut due to the pandemic.    the church is not the building.    the church is each of us who claim to know Him.    where I am, there is the church.    where you are, there is the church.    that is only true if you know Him.

when I think of an open hand, I actually think of 2 open hands.    the 2 open hands of my Savior that was nailed to the cross for my sins.    all of the sudden, that's when I realized why the clenched fist makes me sick.    go back up and read the traits of the clenched fist again. they have nothing in common with the open hands.    other than that fact that all open hands, were indeed clenched fists until they had an encounter with Him.

the open hands of my Savior had all the traits and so many more as described by the open hands.    I am so thankful for His open hands on my behalf.    if He would have had a clenched fist, life for all of us would be so different. the truth of the matter, my Savior had the choice to make; clenched fist or open hands.    after all, He was fully human and capable of making a decision opposite of what He made.    He had a choice.    He chose me.    He chose you.

so, I have a choice to make and I have chosen Him.    does that make me perfect?    laughably, absolutely not.    it makes me a sinner saved by the grace of open hands.    we all have a choice to make.    it's not easy being open handed all the time because people think you are weak and beat down among other things.    but at this point in my life, I could care less what people think about me and just pray that people start thinking more about Him.    when we take our eyes off the open and nail scarred hands of our Savior, it's easy to start to getting clench fisted and full of hate again.    my hearts desire for myself is that in all my activities from this moment on in my life, I pray that my Savior sees me living my life with open hands.    that is the choice that I make, and I will fully rely on Him.    we all have a choice to make.    I can only make my choice.    have a blessed evening, hugs and love, patty