Tuesday, February 16, 2016

My son Scott is ambidextrous.  When he was young, he couldn't tell his right hand from his left hand.  He simply couldn't remember which was which.  Some things he did with his right hand, and others he did with his left.  In baseball, when he would bat, he would use one hand, and when he ate with a fork, or used a pen, he would use the other hand.  Sometimes he used both. 

When he was in Junior High, I was watching him play football, and every time the quarterback called a play, I could see Scott slap his chest with his right arm.  "Why do you do that?" I asked him later.

"Well," he said, "when the play is called--sometimes right, sometimes left--I have to figure out which way is which.  So I just do the Pledge of Allegiance when the quarterback calls the play--and know that my right is on my heart because that's what we do in school every morning.  The teacher says that we pledge with our right hand.  I've gotten used to pledging."

He probably hadn't ever had to figure that out, much less remember it, before football plays were labeled "right" or "left."  He had functioned just fine not knowing.

So if you ever see him standing around looking confused with his hand on his heart, you will know what he is doing. 

 The Bible says: "If there is anyone among you who is poor...don't harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your brother." Deuteronomy 15:7

"It doesn't specify which hand.  Some things don't require that you know your left from your right.  Simply that you do what is right. 

"...when you give alms, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."  Matthew 6:3








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