Today marks the 22nd annual celebration of Left Handers’ Day. The event originally started out to showcase the issues that left handed people cope with living in a right handed world. Of course, there are the things like learning to cut with a right handed scissors or dealing with buttons on the right side of appliances that all left handers, including myself, have dealt with for years. In all honesty, I daresay that I wouldn’t know how to cut with a left handed scissors now if I tried.
I have spent so much time living in the predominantly right handed world that I have just learned to deal with most of the issues. I still get a little amped up when I try to buy notetaking software that doesn’t accommodate people who right from the left. Or I can’t buy a backpack that is interchangeable from right shoulder to left shoulder without major inconveniences. And I can’t flip an egg with my left hand because the edge of the spatula is slanted the wrong way. I could go on and on but I am sure that you get the idea.
Left handers have always been considered “lesser” in some fashion. If you have ever heard someone remark about a “left handed” compliment, or even an “off handed” compliment, they are referring to the regressive side of things. And even in our study of the Bible, the right hand is the dominant position of authority. Ever think about the fact that Jesus sits at the “right hand” of God? Of course, we don’t even know that God has hands, but the idea is that Jesus is at the preferred place in relation to His Father.
There are all kinds of studies that I won’t get into here, but I do believe that we still live in a right handed world. And there are some things that we excel at, although we can debate almost any issue having to do with which hand is better. But biblically, family blessings and other important things were always done with the “right” hand. And the lesser blessing was pronounced with the left hand. The verse for this evening highlights one such event in the Bible. We are told, in Gen. 48:13-14, “And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.” And so went the blessing of the offspring…
My encouragement this evening, for those of you who are left handed, is that God created you this way for a reason – come to think of it, the same is true of right handers. So we each have a mission to do and since we all know that God doesn’t make mistakes, there must be something special that each of us is to accomplish. My prayer is that you will embrace however God created you – right or left handed, tall or short, slender or a little plump; whatever you are, God loves you. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…