“Then the LORD said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff,’ he replied. The LORD said, ‘Throw it on the ground.'” (Exodus 4:2-3).
When Moses had an encounter with God in the Negev, God asked Him what He already knew: “What do you have in your hand, Moses?” Undoubtedly Moses looked down and saw the old rod, a shepherd’s staff, which he used to walk with, to fend off enemies of the flock, and to help lift up fallen sheep to their feet. “A staff,” he replied. Then God commanded him, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses complied. It became a snake. The God said, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail,” and as Moses did so, it turned back into his staff.
That staff was his constant companion as he led God’s children out of Egypt into the Promised Land. God is still asking the question, “What do you have in your hand?” The answer, simply put, is that you have three things: 1. Resources, 2. Abilities, 3. Time. In spite of the inequities of life, there’s absolute equality when it comes to time. You have 24 hours in every day, the same as the richest person in the world–or the poorest, for that matter. But our resources and our talents are different.
Addie Bee is a woman who has used very well what she had in her hands. Here’s the story. Addie grew up in a dysfunctional home where both parents were alcoholics, so she was placed in a foster home. Wanting a doll of her own to love and cuddle, Addie saved money, walked to the dollar store and picked out a black doll she named Bessie. Bessie’s cradle was a shoebox, but the foster father, perhaps in a rage of discrimination, discovered the doll, and smashed its head with his foot. She had a funeral for the little doll and buried it under the house.
Her next foster family gave her three dolls for Christmas, but when she had to leave that home, she also had to leave the dolls behind too. Addie eventually grew up, married, had four children, and outlived her husband. But she could never quite outlive her dolls. More than twenty years ago, the church she attended asked her to dress some old dolls for Christmas gifts for underprivileged children—her passion for dolls was again ignited.
Addie tried serving the Lord doing a variety of things—drive other people, play the piano, help out here and there, but finally she really discovered that what she had in her hands was the ability to restore dolls and to give them to hurting kids who would love them as she had once loved her doll Bessie. “That’s it!” she learned. And dolls it has been ever since then.
When she needed parts for dolls which were missing an arm or a leg, she wrote to the Syndee Doll Company and asked them if they had a few extra arms and legs she could have. Well, it just happened that the man who was servicing the sewing machines at the doll company happened to see her letter. “I know that woman,” he exclaimed and vouched for her, letting them know she was legitimate.
It just happened the doll company was getting rid of some of their stock, and the sewing machine repairman left there with a van full of spare doll parts which filled Addie’s garage.
Addie has refurbished some 272 dolls and earned the nickname “Busy Bee.” She calls her dolls “My babies.” Her thanks is the smile of a little child whose eyes tell the whole story.
When God asked, “What do you have in your hands?” Addie may well answer, “Just a doll!” But, by the way, what do you have in your hands?[1] Willing to give it to God? Try it friend, and see what He will give you in return when you trust Him with what you have.
Resource reading: Exodus 4:1-7.
[1] (Lori Basheda, “She warms hearts with her art: building doll parts,” Orange County Register, Nov. 12, 2002, p. 1,4).
