Ever since we started dating 49 years ago, Dick and I have
held hands wherever we walk. Surprisingly, we have discovered that holding
hands is a unique habit—a fact brought to our attention recently when we attended
our denomination’s regional three-day conference.
Walking around the gathering areas and grounds, Dick and I
held hands, leaning our heads together to talk, and sharing laughter over
little things that amused us. Towards the end of the first day, a volunteer
from the Welcome center approached us. She just wanted to say how wonderful she
thought it was that we walked everywhere holding hands. Dick jokingly told her,
“Well, I stumble a lot,” and the three of us laughed at his witticism.
“Seriously, though, it’s nice to see a couple enjoying each
other’s company so much,” she said.
It’s not the first time this physical display of our close
connection has attracted attention.
- “You’re the couple we see walking around town holding hands!” exclaimed a lady we met at an ecumenical church event.
- “How’s your husband doing?” a fellow shopper asked me following Dick’s heart surgery. “I love seeing the two of you walk down the street holding hands.”
- “Where’s your other half?” a store clerk asked when I paid for my purchases. “You two are always together, holding hands. We don’t see many people doing that anymore.”
Truthfully, Dick and I enjoy each other’s company! We want
to be together as much as possible. It never grows old—even after five years of
dating and 44 years of marriage! We are one, just as God said in Mark 10:8—and holding
hands is just a physical manifestation of that oneness.
What is the key to our total oneness? Our shared faith. In
March of 1977, we both trusted Jesus as our Savior, and dedicated our lives to
Him. That commitment to Christ set us on the same path spiritually and set the
foundation for us to continue to be one in every other aspect of our lives. Holding
hands simply exemplifies it.
Thomas Gumbleton, in the National
Catholic Reporter, writes, “The most important vocation in the church is
the vocation of married people. If you go back to the marriage ceremony . . .
we ask God's blessing on the bride and the groom because they are called to be
witnesses to the love of Jesus. In other words, by loving one another in their
married life, sharing that love with their children, spreading that love in
their neighborhood, in their community, they are witnessing [for] Jesus.” (John
13:35)
Maybe all it takes to witness of Jesus’ love is a little hand
holding. :D
Be encouraged!
©2018 Pamela D. Williams
