PRIVILEGED

These hands,

I look down at them 

as I type these words.

Discoloring. Veined. Bony. 

Speckled with “age” spots.

Once they looked young and supple, 

oh, so smooth and strong.

Then one day I looked down

and there at the end of my arms 

were my father’s hands.

These days they’re looking more 

like those of my gnarly grandfather.

Of course, all of them are gone now, 

gone down the ultimate one way,

flowing in the river called nature

which stops for no thing. No one.

The first privilege 

is just to be a part of it,

to be welcomed into these waters.

The second is a deep knowing

that this is the ultimate course of nature;

We are each part of the flow of all things.

The third is to personify this privilege, 

to welcome the joy of it into this day, 

even this very moment. 

Alright then! I clap these beautiful hands 

in wonder, praise and thanksgiving!

“So we do not lose heart. 

Even though our outer nature is wasting away, 

our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” 

(2 Corinthians 4:16)