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THE STORY of the PRAYING HANDS

The two brothers were left with an inheritance, and it was only enough money to send one to school.  And although they both wanted to go, they knew it was impossible.

So the brothers decided to toss to see who would go to school, and who would stay home and work.  The youngest brother won the toss.  The older brother was really disappointed when he discovered that his younger brother had decided to become a painter, but a deal had been made, and he would honor that deal.

Every night the older brother would pray that God would give him the strength to carry on with the duty of his job.  He had gotten a job in a blacksmith shop and his hands were really starting to show their age from the heat of the coals and the pounding of the hammer as he shoed the horses.

But he kept his prayer life strong, and never departed from that.

One day the younger brother presented the older brother a painting, and the painting was of praying hands.  The older brother, with tears, asked him about the hands.

He told him, "Every night I see how tired you are and yet you never complained.  I knew you were disappointed in what I had chosen to do, but you never said anything to me.  I would watch you pray every night, and that is when I knew that I had to paint those hands.  For those hands were always in prayer, and you never asked for anything from God except strength but you always asked God to protect me and be with me.  These are your hands, my dear brother.  I painted them while you were praying."

The older brother overwhelmed by the painting, fell on his knees and prayed to God and thanked God for his brother and the talent that was given him.