A moment in time
We do it for a number reasons to seal an agreement, keep a promise, to greet someone friend or foe.
I am talking about the hand shake. One implication of Covid was to stop any form of touch and while some have resumed with the hand shake other forms of greeting have replaced it such as the fist bump or praying hands.
I see the hand shake as an intentional sign of sincerity, humility, the literal bridging of the gap between two people and whether signing a peace agreement or greeting a friend on the street it is of real significance.
When I go onboard a ship the first thing I see is a seafarer on deck and I have to make myself known and in the moment of a handshake all the differences between us be it nationality, language, culture, gender doesn’t matter, what does is the acknowledgment that we are people who accept one another. I experienced this recently when I met a friendly Chinese 2nd Officer onboard a new ship who held out his hand to me.
Jesus had a way of making the person before him feel as if they were the only one who mattered.
I want to encourage you in the moment when you meet someone be it with a handshake, a kiss, a hug, a fist bump, a wave, a smile, praying hands to see it as a God infused moment in which the person before you is all that matters, to share in the love our Lord has for them as for you, in my case when onboard for those brave souls I hold up high, who go down to the sea in ships.