Full Hands

Psalm 68:6a  

God sets the lonely in families... 

Psalm 127:3a 

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord...

Often while I'm talking with someone, either a friend I'm reconnecting with or someone I've just met, they will say with mild exasperation, "Wow! You have your hands full."  I have spent quite a bit of time reflecting on that statement.  I wonder if they mean that it seems like I'm going to start dropping things (literally or figuratively) or that I look like I'm overwhelmed and about to fall apart. I generally try to avoid giving a negative impression about large family life, adoption, and foster care.  I certainly hope that is not the case.  I love these things, and "having my hands full" to me signifies a life full of blessings and opportunities to depend on the Lord. It is a good life.  It is a full life.

Full is...well...it's full.

A full life is often overflowing with challenges - organizational, practical, emotional, physical.  It is real and sometimes it is messy.  Real messy.  (The more there are of us in the house, the more the mess increases exponentially.)  And on the flip side, a full life is overflowing with joys, laughter, growth, togetherness.  And while the mess may increase exponentially, the teamwork also increases, and clean up doesn't take nearly as long. 

While we were traveling somewhere in the past year, our family stopped at a fast food restaurant for a bathroom break and a quick meal.  (Honestly no matter how many stalls there are in the bathroom, there's no such thing as quick when 10 people pile out of a van for a bathroom break and a meal!) We make every effort to avoid these kinds of expensive and unhealthy meal choices, but sometimes there is not time or energy to plan for every meal on the road.  During this particular visit to a fast food restaurant, the woman taking our order at the cash register got a little flustered and half-way through the order interrupted Nic by saying, "Wait!  Are you ALL together?"  I suppose a larger family with a wide age range of children can be potentially overwhelming to those who may not be expecting it. But really, we drive a 12 passenger van, not a bus. How overwhelming can we be at an eating establishment that is expected to handle entire bus loads of hungry teenage athletes after sporting events?

While it was a rather peculiar way to say it, I believe that the clerk at the restaurant was saying somewhat the same thing I often hear, "You've got your hands full."  Her unguarded response revealed more about the situation than I often see when others say it.  She wasn't quite prepared at the thought of all of us together.  And maybe the response of others who comment on how full my hands are are really saying something similar, something more along the lines of , "Wow! I can't quite imagine that kind of family lifestyle." Or "Wow! I had never envisioned family being brought together from multiple continents in such a way."

Yes, we are ALL together.  And my hands are full.  And my heart is full...so very full.  It is full to overflowing with thankfulness to God for bringing us together, setting the lonely in families, caring for the orphan and widow, being sovereign even over our brokenness and hurt, being purposeful in ordering each of our days, turning mourning to dancing and sorrow to joy.  He is a good God and He has given me full hands.