Hands

During the Second World War, a quaint little French village was bombed by mistake. The villagers were forewarned by the air-raid sirens, and cleared out of the village before the bombing started.

Through tears of sadness, they sat on a nearby hill all that night and watched the flashes and fires as the bombs levelled their town. They returned to their village and began digging in the rubble for anything salvageable. There wasn't much. But, all the villagers joined together in the effort to rebuild there village from the bottom up.

As the rubble was cleared from the village square, several pieces of white marble where found, the remains of the statue that stood in the square. The villagers called on the best sculptor to rebuild the old statue as a remembrance of the rebuilding of the village, The sculptor worked for years on this great challenge.

Finally, as the remaining bit of paint was put on the last building in the village and the streets were washed out for the last time, a veiled figure stood in the square. The villagers held a great three day celebration to commemorate the rebuilding of the village. As the last feature in the celebration, the villagers all met together at the town square for the unveiling of the statue.

Finally the veil was removed. There in the square stood a figure of Christ exactly as in the visitors center in Salt Lake City. With his hand outstretched to all. But this statue had no hands, because the bomb blast hit too close and pulverized them beyond repair. So the inscription, instead of reading as it once did, "Come unto Christ," now read, "I have no hands but yours."

Print a picture of the Cristus with this story, or hand out a pre-printed card of the Cristus.

Have the class participants trace and cut out their handprints before class. At the end of the class, have them print "I have no hands but yours" onto their hands, or pre-print the phrase on address labels and stick to each handprint.

Using the same idea, preprint hands with a picture of christ and the phrase above to hand out.

You can find keychains with small hands on the end to hand out.

Quotes:
"The Lord said, speaking of His servants, 'Their arm shall be my arm.' [D&C 35:14] Have you thought about this? To me this is one of the most sacred and significant and personal commissions I can read about in the holy records or elsewhere. The Lord says this arm of mine is His arm. This mind, this tongue, these hands, these feet, this purse – these are the only tools He has to work with so far as I am concerned.... So far as you are concerned, your arm, your resources, your intelligence, your tongue, your energy, are the only tools the Lord has to work with."

Marion D. Hanks

Other Resources:
"His Hands" click here for handout
"I Have Two Little Hands" Children's Songbook p. 272

Values:
Good Works
Faith