Need a job? A good way to get hired is to say to a foreman, who might need someone with your skills, “Can you use another hand?” If he accepts your offer, and you put in a good day’s work, you may have a steady job the next day.
There are few people who do not need another hand to help with their work. Most work is done by teams working together in supportive roles. Each team member contributes to the success of the group.
Negative attitudes diminish a team’s success. Jealousy creates friction that can ruin a team. Envy makes one miserable and never solves anything. It drains team members of energy and enthusiasm. Nobody enjoys being around a person who demands center stage and wants to hog the glory for what is done.
Success is usually achieved when a team believes the old adage, “It is amazing how much you can get done if you don’t care who gets the credit for it.” A team works best when all its members remember there is no “I” in the word team. Successful teams discover the harmony of using the word “we.”
The head coach of any team cannot succeed without the help of his staff. The skilled surgeon cannot perform surgery without the help of several assistants. This is true in every arena of life. Even the greatest golfer needs the help of another hand called a caddy.
In his old age, the father of Sir Hubert von Herkomer was persuaded to spend his last days in the home of his son, a prominent sculptor and Oxford professor. Since the father was also a sculptor, he spent most evenings working with modeling clay. But, hampered by his age and failing eyesight, he was often frustrated at day’s end. Some nights he was almost in despair when he put aside his work and went to bed.
After the old man had gone to bed, his son would work secretly at the clay his father had been shaping. In the morning the old man, not knowing that another hand had improved his work, would exclaim with delight, “Why it isn’t as bad as I thought!”
God often works like another hand in our lives. He takes our feeble efforts and touches them, making them more than we ever dreamed they could be. More than once the Lord has taken sermons I felt were failures and used them to touch the heart of someone who needed to hear what He said through my feeble words.
Look for ways that you can be another hand for someone. Let someone who is struggling lean on you and regain the strength to move on. And be thankful for any other hand that touches your own in a helpful way. Tell your teammates how grateful you are for the ways they contribute to your success. Those in supportive roles need to hear the Big Guy say, “I couldn’t do it without you!”
Wear the garment of gratitude today and welcome any other hand that the Lord sends your way. This just might be what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Love one another.”