Working Hands

The morning of my August wedding found me in an unfamiliar place, however, surrounded by my family.
We were staying with a distant relative near Washington DC.
I didn’t have enough money for hair nor makeup appointments but I was blessed with a sister who was willing to help me do my best.
We finished hair and makeup and I told her there was one last task to do… I had six ugly black stitches in my ring finger… And I wanted them out…

My summer job search had landed me at a roadside farm near our small town in rural northwestern Pennsylvania. I had worked my way up from harvesting strawberries for 25 cents a quart to assistant farm-hand making $3.25/hour. The best thing about my promotion was that I got to ride an ATV to and from the different fields to check on crews and harvest crops to sell at the road-side stand.
My hands looked like farm hands… Dry, rough, calloused, and stained with green from the plants and weeds.

A week before my wedding, I decided to begin wearing rubber gloves in an effort to try and reverse the effects of the long summer’s work from my hands.
One morning I was doing the routine field checks and preparing to harvest some broccoli and cauliflower to sell at the stand that day.
My quick work took a wrong turn when I carelessly sliced my finger as I cut the broccoli spears. 

I drove back to the stand, wrapped my finger tightly with a few bandaids, doubled the rubber gloves, and finished my chores for the day.
The throbbing was intense and my bloodied bandages began to show through my gloves. 
The boss man said I should get it looked at and I reluctantly told my mom what I’d done. I went to a nearby medical clinic where a doctor looked at my messy bloodied finger.
He cleaned out the debris and pieces of a rubber glove and told me I was lucky I cut it without damaging any tendons.

He quickly and seemingly carelessly stitched up the cut with thick black synthetic sutures and told me to schedule an appointment for 10 days later to recheck the healing and remove the stitches…

Six days later, I was in Washington DC, on my wedding day, begging my sister to cut off my stitches. 
She refused; citing doctor’s orders.

I rummaged through my make-up bag for a solution. With seemingly no viable alternative, I used nail clippers and tweezers to complete the job myself…

I looked at my hands…
They weren’t pretty… at all…
The stains had faded, but the swelling on my ring finger remained and the callouses and dryness were only temporarily soothed with inexpensive lotion…

Hours later as I exchanged rings with Whit- the swelling prohibited my wedding band from sliding past my second knuckle. We had a nice little laugh…

I couldn’t hide it: My hands were working hands. 

Little did I know then how important those hands would be as I decided to dedicate my life in trying to use them to be an instrument in God’s hands. 
Turns out… working hands are the best kind…

The lessons I learned over the next several decades regarding what God needed me to do for Him and what He still asks of me today are humbling. 
He doesn’t need me to have all the answers or know exactly where my journey leads.
He just needs me to take one simple step today in faith in continuing to seek His will, follow Him, and use my working hands to further His work. 


-JC

Lemon Blueberry Cookies

½ cup soft butter
½ cup sour cream
1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh (washed and dried)  blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium high for 1 minute or until fluffy. Hand stir in sour cream, egg, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon zest.  Don’t overmix. Add dry ingredients all at once and mix until fully incorporated. Add 2+ Tablespoons more flour for high elevation. Gently fold in blueberries. Refrigerate dough for 2 hours. 
Scoop 15  -2” balls of dough onto parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 14+ minutes.  Immediately drizzle warm cookie with Lemon Glaze. Let set. Share!


Lemon Glaze
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar
Zest of 1 lemon.

Use food processor to thoroughly mix all ingredients.  Spoon glaze into freezer strength Ziploc until ready to use.


-JC