The First Kind Hands

When I first came into this disease, I was frightened, and I was being processed. And then somebody put her hands on me kindly.

A nurse named Carol. Warm water on cold hands. A blanket. Somebody asking how I was feeling and then actually waiting for the answer.

She treated me like a person and not a problem.

And here is the grace of it, all these years later. After everything, Carol is my nurse again. The first hands that ever cared for me in this disease are the same hands caring for me now. She started my story. And she stayed in it.

The fuller account is in my memoir. What I want to preach about is what those hands did, because I do not think small kindness is small at all.

Anybody who has been seriously sick knows the feeling of becoming a case. You get discussed in the third person while sitting right there. You become a set of numbers, a room, a diagnosis. People talk about your kidneys, your heart, your levels, and somewhere in all of it the person goes missing. And it is not usually cruelty. It is volume and exhaustion and systems built for efficiency. But the effect on you is the same. You start to feel like a body being managed.

And Then One Person Breaks the Pattern

And then somebody does one small thing that puts you back together. They use your name. They pull up a chair instead of standing over you. They pause. They ask something that has nothing to do with your chart. And something in you comes back online. You remember you are a whole person.

Jesus Touched People He Did Not Have To

And this is exactly how Jesus operated. In Matthew 8, a leper comes to Him, and the Bible says Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him. He did not need to. He healed at a distance more than once. But this man had likely not felt human touch in years, and Jesus put a hand on him before He said a word about healing. The touch was not the mechanism. The touch was the message.

He Asked Questions He Knew the Answers To

And in Mark 5, a woman touches His garment in a crowd and He stops everything and asks who touched me. He knew. He was not gathering information. He was refusing to let her be healed anonymously in a crowd, because being seen was part of what she needed. So He stopped a procession for one woman who could have slipped away fixed but still invisible.

And a Cup of Cold Water Counts

And Jesus said in Matthew 10:42, whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. A cup of cold water only. He put a heavenly reward on the smallest possible act of physical kindness. And in Matthew 25 He says, I was sick, and ye visited me. And when they ask when, He says, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. So the warm blanket was not a nice gesture. According to Jesus, it was done to Him.

You Do Not Know What You Are Doing

And let me speak to the nurses, the aides, the techs, the receptionists, the volunteers, and anybody in the caring professions. You do not know what your small kindness is doing. You warmed some water. You remembered somebody's name. You did not rush. You said something ordinary and human. And a frightened person went home that night feeling like a human being instead of a case number, and they will remember your face for twenty years. I remember mine.

And It Costs Almost Nothing

That is the astonishing part. The things that restore people's humanity are almost free. Ten extra seconds. Eye contact. Using a name. Asking and waiting. Colossians 3:12 says, put on therefore, as the elect of God, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. Put on. It is a decision you make before the shift starts.

Notice It Out Loud

And if you are the one on the receiving end, do this. Notice it out loud. Tell them. People in caring work almost never hear that what they did mattered, and most of them are running on empty themselves. Say, you were kind to me on my first day, and I have never forgotten it.

And Let It In

And let the kindness land, because some of us are so used to being the caregiver that we deflect care when it comes. You are allowed to be cared for. Refusing it is not humility, and it robs somebody of a good work.

So let me bring it home. Somewhere, somebody finally treated you like a person and not a problem. Maybe it took a while. Maybe you sat in a hard place a long time first. But when it came, it restored something. The warm blanket. The warm water. The person who asked how you were feeling and actually waited for the answer. Those small things are not small. They remind you that you are not a body broken down into parts to be fixed. You are a whole person. And if you are the one with the hands, understand what you are holding. You may be the first kind hands somebody has felt in a very long time. Carol started my story, and by the grace of God she is still in it. Be that for somebody.