My Arms and My Legs
Written by Paul Landis Delaune

 

 
 If you view me through the eyes of this world, as I do myself
sometimes, and see a man who is unable to do a great many things, then I
ask you to reconsider a moment.  For, if you look closely, you will see
a man who has an active life and involves himself in various pursuits.

     If you look at me and you see arms that cannot do for me and legs
that cannot carry me, then my response to you when looking at you is,
“You are my arms and my legs.”  In every place I go and in every
situation I find myself, there are arms to do for me and feet to carry
me.  Often I do not even have to ask, for so many times I find arms and
legs doing for me without me uttering a word, as if spurred into action
by my own thought.

     As if spurred into action by my own thought…  Aha!  Herein a
wonderful truth lies waiting to be realized and understood.  You see, I
perform all the basic functions of life as you do.  I drink, I eat, I
bathe, I dress, I travel, I work, I play, I sing, I worship, I praise
and, my favorite of all, I love.  Yes, I may do some of these
differently, but it is in
this difference you will discover how to see with the eyes of God.

     For with the eyes of this world you will see arms and hands of
others doing for me and the legs and feet of others carrying me.  And as
I have already said, often without me asking.  You see, these arms and
legs are connected to minds that consider my well-being and to hearts
that care about me.  In addition, these minds respond to me and these
hearts care for me in direct proportion to how my mind responds to them
and my heart cares for them.  The wonder of it all is that this applies
to friend and stranger alike.

     I find I can be among strangers in that their faces I don’t know.
But when I look into their eyes, they are strangers no longer.  For when
I peek in the window to their soul, I see the love of God waving back at
me.

     We are all connected.  Our hearts and our minds.  Our bodies are
nothing more than the vessels of our thoughts.  To the world’s eyes, we
may look like separate bodies interacting with one another; but to the
eyes of God, we are souls connected to each other by our thoughts and
our love.  Others love me as I love them and I love them as God loves
me.  When I feel separate from God, I feel separate from you.

     The hands that do for me, the arms that hug me, the legs that carry
me, the lips that kiss me, the eyes that gaze into my own—they are
mine.  The minds that consider me and the hearts that care about me—they
are mine.  The love that loves me—that, too, is mine.  Together, we all
are God’s…


 
 
 

Background music: 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' by Procol Harum