Open Palm This Instant!

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" was not a noteworthy film if you ask Siskel and Jodi. But it did do one cool thing. It gave us a visual of shrunken people—little people so small, blades of grass tower above them.

Take that image of little people and shrink in your mind those you hold most dear to your heart. (Cute, aren't they?) Now invite them to climb up into your palm, one at a time. One by one, consider them. Let them run around in your hand and play.

As each climbs on, what are you tempted to do? To let them skip up your fingers and jump back into your palm? To have free reign of the territory? Or, the more you care about the person, are you more tempted to gently curl your fingers and grasp them, to hold them secure? To ensure their safety? Because what if they were to run and jump and fall…right out of your hand? What if they fell right out of your life? Do you tighten your grip to keep them safe because they are yours and they are precious?

I've come to a beautiful discovery when it comes to the people in my palm. The flatter my hand, the straighter my fingers, the wider the space between my fingers…the more at peace I am. I am blessed to even get to have little people! I know my palm is a safe place for them, but I also know they could choose to run right off, right between my pinky and my ring finger. They could. It might be accidental, it might be intentional. But it's not my place to hold them tightly like I so long to do.

How can I loosen my grip when I most want to clench it? Only knowing that my hand is being held by a much bigger one. Outside of my own hand rests my Father's all-encompassing net of safety. If my people fall or jump off, I trust that they will fall into the palm of the One who cares for them even more than I do (which is hard to comprehend). It's okay. I can love and I can give, but I must hold all that is precious to me with an open palm. And I will relish the sweet peace that comes in doing so.

How open is your palm? Are you holding your people tight because you cannot imagine living without them? Do you clench your grip because your love is so great? Or can you perhaps loosen your fingers, to give them their freedom...even if it means you lose them?

“Love…does not insist on its own way.”
1 Corinthians 13:4, ESV

“For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand.”
Isaiah 41: 13, ESV