Chapped Hands

When the weather turns cold my skin starts to get very dry and chapped. It’s usually worse on my hands as they’re exposed to the elements more than the rest of me. They can get so dry that the skin starts to flake and crack, and that can be sore.

So, what do I do? I use protection!
I wear gloves when I’m out and about to reduce the exposure to the cold, nasty air. I use hand cream to keep the skin soft and supple.

I have miss-timed the application of hand cream on a few occasions and this has resulted in some mildly entertaining moments. Think tea cups slipping out of hands, bags of goodies remaining unopened as my fingers slide across the packaging, writing like I’m holding a pen for the first time as I loose all sense of grip!

Anyway, today I was thinking…I take such a proactive and practical effort to protect my hands and keep them nice and soft…but what about the rest of me?

I was reminded of the armour of God. I often think of Sunday school crafts and games when I think of the armour of God. Tin-foil swords and helmets and breastplates, and reminding 8 year old boys that the sword of the spirit is not for stabbing fellow soldiers with!

But yet I forget that everyday we are able to protect ourselves in a very practical way against the enemy, the cold nastiness of the world, and keep ourselves soft and supple. To stop us from getting dry, flaky and cracking.

Soft hands are nice to touch. It would be great to be able to touch others with our soft lives too.