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The Story Behind The Praying Hands Picture
THE STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE OF THE PRAYING HANDS
Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived
a family with eighteen children. Eighteen! In order merely to keep food
on the table for this mob, the father and head of the household, a
goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade
and any other paying chore he could find in the neighborhood.
Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of the elder children,
Albrecht and Albert, had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their
talent for art, but they knew full well that their father would never be
financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the
Academy.
After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two
boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would
go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his
brother while he attended the academy. Then, when that brother who won
the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the
other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or,
if necessary, also by laboring in the mines.
They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Durer
won the toss and went off to Nuremberg.
Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four
years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an
immediate sensation. Albrecht’s etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils
were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he
graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his
commissioned works.
When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held
a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht’s triumphant
homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and
laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored position at the head of the
table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice
that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words
were, “And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn.
Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care
of you.”
All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where
Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head
from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, “No ..no
…no ..no.”
Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced
down the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands
close to his right cheek, he said softly, “No, brother. I cannot go to
Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look … look what four years in the
mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed
at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly
in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast,
much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a
brush. No, brother …for me it is too late.”
More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer’s hundreds of
masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, water colors,
charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great
museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people,
are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer’s works. More than merely
being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in
your home or office.
One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed,
Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother’s abused hands with palms
together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful
drawing simply “Hands,” but the entire world almost immediately opened
their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love
“The Praying Hands.”
The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second
look.
Let it be your reminder,
that no one -
no one – ever makes it alone!
I received this in an e-mail last night from my mother but didn’t read it until this morning. With tears in my eyes, I copied it to here for you to share in this deeply moving story. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Always remember that Jesus died for us because He loves us!
Humbly yours,
Teresa Marie
Even If You’re Not
You know that it’s love
that you are falling into
when you’re always thinking of
the little things to do
When it is your only desire
for them to be happy too
which is burning like a fire
that rages inside of you
And it doesn’t even matter
if their happiness isn’t with you
though you’d be mad as a hatter
if you couldn’t be with them too
For if you weren’t a part
of their life in every way
it would break your heart
much more than you could say
But you know it’s love
if you bid them faretheewell
and pray to God above
that they could never tell.
Teresa Marie 5/16/11
The Ultimate Sacrifice – Part IV
So now begins the “punishment”. It grieves my spirit and soul already with what happened before this point but here is where it gets 10x worse. I’ve been beaten up before and it is no picnic, but this scourging stuff is beyond my wildest imagination. I can’t conceive what it takes to whip a person like that either. You would have to be a sadistic personality I’d think, wouldn’t you? But what they did to Jesus is more than sadistic, it’s Satanic!! And this is the part that just blows me away, He, God‘s Son, stood there allowing it to happen to Himself!
What kind of love is that! The enormity of His passion/compassion for the human race is so very, very humbling to me. Why, dear Lord, are we not more grateful to You? It shames me on our behalf. And what deepens that shame is the way this “modern society” is cutting the LORD our God out of everything of which we used to hold fast to, but don’t let me get started on that right now. It suffices to say that I am greatly ashamed of us Christians for allowing it to happen! After He did all of this for us, how can we turn our backs on Him?
On His human side, what courage, what strength of character, what great love, what devotion, what loyalty He displayed by His actions! They beat Him to death, basically. I do not for a minute believe that, had He not been God, He would have survived it. He would have bled to death right then and there. He was whipped with a cat-o-nine-tails! Have you ever seen one up close? I have on one of Mark’s miliary shows. No wonder His entrails were hanging out. He was beaten beyond recognition! Does that not affect you as deeply as it does me? I CAN NOT CONCEIVE IT! I mean literally they beat Him to death, ripping His flesh open on both sides of His body! He’s God and He let them! I don’t know how to convey what I feel when I say this to you – I am cringing to the point of pain right now and trembling. The ENORMOUS sacrifice it was and all done for you and I. My spirit is shrinking back in horror from the thought of it.
Do you remember the horror, pain and devastation you felt when you saw the twin towers falling on 9/11? Multiply that by a thousand times and maybe you’d be close to seeing how it makes me feel. Knowing the way that I have sinned against Him in my past and the forgiveness that I have received for it was all made possible by this great act of love by our Savior is beyond humbling. I don’t have the words, I don’t think there is a word that I could use to describe it.
And then that was not enough for them! How could it not be? I just don’t understand that kind of evil hatred of another. But they wanted more, demanded it! What do they call that, blood lust or blood thirsty or some such thing? I have tears in my eyes and goosebumps on my arms. It is so beyond my comprehension that I can’t tell you. You may not understand this but I’m going to have to stop here for today because I just can’t continue, I am so grieved by it. I will try to continue with this tomorrow.
Dear Father, thank You. Dear Jesus, I’m sorry. Dear Holy Spirit, soothe me. Angels in heaven, again today I weep with you.
I pray that the Spirit will open your eyes of understanding as He has mine,
Teresa Marie
The Ultimate Sacrifice – Progress Update
Hi everybody, it’s the rambler again. I read the last two posts and will attempt to do this better, therefore I won’t be continuing it for today. I have a new plan of action. I am going to type this next part out and have Mark read it before I publish it.
Sounds like a good plan to me. I received a comment that did make me feel a little better about the last two parts – thanks Haunted Doc. At least there one of you out there that could follow my train of thought, ha-ha.
So tomorrow we will carry on with it but on a new page of its own instead of the Daily Thoughts page. Just look for it under “The Ultimate Sacrifice” category. See you there and until then…
Always remember that Jesus died for us because He loves us!
May God be with you today and forever,
Teresa Marie
