These Hands.

I decided what my favorite thing about myself is.
It took a long time, but I have now decided and I am confident in my choice.

My favorite thing about myself is...

My hands.

I have a love/hate relationship with them.
I mean, they are so big - as big as my brothers', my dad's, and my boyfriend's. I have, in fact, never found a girl with bigger hands than my own. And I hate them for that. I want the cute little hands that just get swallowed by my boyfriend's...the kind that just disappear when he holds my hand.

But mine don't.

Instead, they are a perfect fit inside of his.

But that's not the only reason I like them.

With my hands, I can palm a basketball (yes, yes I can). I can make freaking sweet scrapbook pages. I can write letters to people I love. I can carry kids at Mission Center and tie their shoes and help them with craft projects. I can play a few songs on my guitar. I can make necklaces and mold things out of play-doh. I can give good backrubs and braid hair.

With my hands, I have carried a cross, literally and figuratively. I have prayed with girls that were broken and sobbing and in dire need of love. I have opened a Bible and led people to Christ. With my hands, I have handed out waterbottles on a beach in Florida. I have painted and sanded a church in Hawaii. I have picked out toys to fill shoeboxes that went to kids I don't even know and will never know. I have given food to homeless people. I have touched little kids, even though I didn't know the last time they had changed their clothes or been given a bath.

With my hands, I have challenged someone to a pants off dance off. I have applauded for someone I love during (illegal) Twin Fights. I have chosen a beta for a gift exchange at church. I have made name tags for doors on my hall out of paint samples and star-shaped hole punches.

With my hands, I have covered my face and felt my tears. I have opened presents and felt blessed. I have made a birthday dinner and dessert. I have lifted my hands to God even when they felt tired. I have used them to take off my shoes so that I could give them to someone who would send them overseas to someone who needed them much more than I did.

My hands.
My long, slender, elegant fingers...so perfect for the piano (as I am told) and so perfect for so much more...My new callouses, my short nails that I used to bite all the time, my damaged nail from Flag Football in August...My big palms that tense up during racquetball and sometimes hurt for no reason...My knuckles that barely hold my rings on...The various freckles I have, and the freckles that are still to come...

How could I have ever hated them?

These hands...
They do so much more than I thought possible. They've shown me what life is...how I can bring life and hope to others.

These hands...
These hands.