Dear friends,
How important is touch? We all know that it is one of our most important senses! I am not a developmental psychologist but I vividly remember the countless touches I received from dad and mom growing up! Perhaps I doubted at times my parents love but as I look back nothing stands out in my mind? Touch signals safety, trust and acceptance!
They tell us that lack of touch leads to emotional disorders and increased violence. A warm handshake, a sympathetic hug and a congratulatory pat on the back can pay huge dividends! I have even heard that NBA teams that touch a lot win more games – maybe the teams with losing records this year should hug all the way down the court?
In our tech-saturated world, non-sexual human touch is in danger of becoming rare, if not obsolete. Despite the benefits of digital advancement, it is vital to preserve human touch for us to thrive!
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John use the words “hands,” “fingers,” and “touch” nearly two hundred times, and to Jesus it didn’t matter who – because no one repulsed, nauseated, or sickened Him!
Loving like Jesus loved means that we touch people like He did! I encourage all of you to read and meditate on Luke 7:36-50 before Sunday. It is a familiar passage of scripture but Jesus is going to touch 2 very different people in different ways.
Speaking of touch! It was 1818 in France, and Louis, a boy of 9, was sitting in his father’s workshop. The father was a harness-maker and the boy loved to watch his father work the leather. “Someday Father,” said Louis, “I want to be a harness-maker, just like you.” “Why not start now?” said the father. He took a piece of leather and drew a design on it. “Now, my son,” he said, “take the hole-puncher and a hammer and follow this design, but be careful that you don’t hit your hand.” Excited, the boy began to work, but when he hit the hole-puncher, it flew out of his hand and pierced his eye! He lost the sight of that eye immediately. Later, sight in the other eye failed. Louis was now totally blind. A few years later, Louis was sitting in the family garden when a friend handed him a pinecone. As he ran his sensitive fingers over the cone, an idea came to him. He became enthusiastic and began to create an alphabet of raised dots on paper so that the blind could feel and interpret what was written. Thus, Louis Braille opened a whole new world to those who are blind through the power of touch.
In the darkness Jesus stretched out His hand of mercy,
Glen