Neither of these hands are my hands, but they are special hands. Most hands are special to be honest, but these are extra special. These hands have crafted some delicious goodies over the past 93 years. They’ve stitched some creatively amazing quilts. They’ve cooked amazing meals. But probably most importantly they’ve remained open in a loving way that not many can rival. These hands are not mine. They are not yours. I’m not even related to these hands, but they treated me as if I was part of the family.

Today these hands are finally at rest. They do not move. They no longer cook. No more quilts will be stitched or cookies baked. These hands now rest. From over nine decades of work and countless thousands of meals served, these hands are finally able to stop.

These hands belong to a woman one knew as wife, three knew as mom, and countless knew as friend. They belong to my wife’s grandma. She’s not my grandma by birth, but she always treated me like I was one of her grandchildren. When my grandma passed away over 20 years ago having started making a quilt for my then fiancé and me. She never got a chance to finish it, but now in our home is a quilt lovingly crafted by the caring hands of my Grandma Elaine and my Great Ma.

You see friends the moral of this little fable is that we never know when life will come to a close. We might be like Great Ma and live 93 amazingly blessed and fruitful years. But we might be called from this earth far earlier. Leave nothing on the table. Use your hands to do good for those around you. Serve where you can serve even when you’re tired, even when you really don’t want to, even when someone isn’t one of “your people.”

The time will come for each of us when we will give an account for the way we used our hands. Our accounting will not matter for our salvation because that was won for us by Jesus’ hands. But did we love well? Did we serve well? Did others see Jesus in the way we used our hands?

I pray that you take this time to look at what your hands are telling those around you. When someone looks at your hands, do they see someone who loved and served and welcomed like Great Ma? If not, there’s no time like the present to start loving well.

You will be missed, but we do not mourn like others mourn. We mourn as those with hope. Rest in Jesus’ hands. Til we meet again Great-Ma, we love you!