Walking along Broadway we’ve seen our share of creative signs coaxing people to spare some change by means of compassion, pity, guilt, humor, or self-deprecation.  This past Friday, what struck me was not some sign but the hand of a woman, open with her palm to the sky.  

She didn’t have a sign in her hand and cup on the ground to hold whatever she would receive.  She wasn’t like Greg who holds his hat in one hand for any spare change and if he’s lucky, a slice of pizza in the other.  She wasn’t holding a sign, a drink, a bike, a dog, or a backpack.  Her hand was empty and open, ready to receive. 

I know that when I ask, when I ask God it’s often with full hands as I hold on to that which I think will suffice until He answers, until I receive.  The problem is I can’t hold both what will suffice and what is sufficient. 

What would it be like for us to empty our hands, or acknowledge the emptiness of our hands like this woman?  What would it be like to feel the touch of God on our palms, as He is so anxious to give and for us to receive?  I feel overwhelmed at the thought, but don’t want to just wonder, I want this woman and I want us to experience it. 

-Susan Kim