Raw Hands and Reverence

There is a guy in my ward who is a little "different." He always shows up to church wearing multiple pairs of pants, long sleeved sweaters, and gloves. In all the time I've been in the ward I've never seen him without his gloves on - until a couple of weeks ago. I was sitting in sacrament meeting and he was on the end of the same bench. I looked over at him while the sacrament was being passed, and he had his gloves off and the sleeves of his sweater pushed up. His hands were red and raw looking. I watched as the sacrament was passed to our row, and he was very careful about only touching the tray with two fingers. After the sacrament portion of the meeting was over, I watched him as he pulled out some wet wipes and began to wash and scrub his hands. Once he finished that ritual and put his gloves back on, he visibly relaxed.

I realized that this man has an obsessive cumpulsive disorder. As I sat and thought about what I'd seen, I became more and more impressed. This poor guy has a very real disease that hampers every aspect of his life, but he is able to overcome that enough to show his reverence for the Savior.

I'm grateful that I don't have to deal with that particular problem in my life, but if I did, I hope I would be able to do as this man does in order to show my love and reverence for my Lord.