Just A Glove

I have always loved wearing gloves. When I was a little girl, I could hardly wait for Easter Sunday so that I could put on my new, white gloves to wear with my special outfit. Mother always bought me such dainty ones, sometimes trimmed with pretty lace edging or a lovely pearl button that would fasten over the wrist. I loved putting them on and feeling the satin smoothness of the fabric cover my hand.
My first pair of gloves as an adult was worn with a lovely blue dress and my first pair of high heeled shoes. I thought it was one of the lovliest outfits I had ever worn. I received many compliments that day and felt like such a "proper" young lady with my white gloves and heels. Years later, when wearing gloves to church on Sunday became a thing of the past, I insisted on carrying mine along with my purse--I just could not bear to part with my lovely white gloves.
As time passed, I difted away from carrying gloves and, unfortunately, forgot about them altogether. That is, until I attended a Ladies' Retreat in West Virginia. One of the ladies of the church sang a song that brought back my adoration of gloves. She sang a song entitled "Keep Me In Your Will". It's a beautiful song about finding, and staying in, the will of God so that we don't get in His way as He moves in our lives. The words and music are so beautiful and the message so profound. It was the words of the second verse, though, that left such an impact on my memory:

"Remind me, Lord, I'm just a glove
Into which you place your hand.
Not my will but thine be done,
Though I don't understand.
The best laid plans I've made
Somehow always go astray.
Keep me in your will
So I won't be in your way."

"Remind me Lord, I'm just a glove". I thought back to the days when I wore gloves. I remembered putting them on, adjusting the fingers and, if needed, fastening the button over my wrist. After that, I just enjoyed the wearing. Whatever my hands wanted to do, the gloves just went along. My gloved hands carried out my every wish--they carried my purse, they held my hymnal, they laid silently in my lap, and they reached out to grasp another's hand in greeting. Not one time did the gloves ever resist what my hand wanted them to do. Once I placed my hands in the gloves, they came to life and did exactly as they were bidden to do. Alone, in the drawer of my dresser, my gloves could do nothing, be nothing, accomplish nothing. But once placed on my hands, they could accomplish whatever I desired.
Isn't that just the way we should be when it comes to doing the will of the God we love and serve? Shouldn't we be the glove? Shouldn't we be the ones that wrap ourselves around the hand of God in such a way that He can do whatever He chooses to in our lives and we will submit to His purpose without thinking how much better we could do the job? When we remove ourselves from the hand of God--when we follow our own way instead of His--when we allow our own futile efforts to replace His Divine will--we are no longer the glove. We become self-willed, yearning for our own way and our own path.
This yielding is not easy. We are sometimes fearful to yield to the Lord because we are afraid He will not give us the answer or solution we desire. But, if we can remember that His will is much more perfect than ours--if we can believe that all things do, indeed, work for our good--then we can become the glove. We can have all that we desire in God as He works through us and for us.
I still love wearing gloves. I think a pair of white kid leather gloves with pearl buttons is one of the most beautiful accessories a suit will ever have. A lovely pair of white satin gloves, reaching above the elbow, will make an evening gown even more stunning than ever. But me, with God moving in and through my life, is even more dazzling than any earthly glove could possible be. Me, the glove--God, the hand. What an amazing design. I hope He wears me proudly.

In Grace,
Marie