Manipulate

I don’t subscribe to Twitter, but I did happen to notice an interesting Tweet recently.   While traveling in England, I attended a wonderful God-centered church, and later visited  their website. I found a tweet there that went something like this…“all churches do is spiritually manipulate people…“  I love words, and their origins, and from my Spanish background I remembered that manos meant hands.  From that point I looked up the dictionary definitions, one of which I found fascinating.  “Manipulate:  Medicine/Medical  to examine or treat by skillful use of the hands, as in palpation, reduction of dislocations, or changing the position of a fetus.”  Just about everything we encounter in life tries to manipulate us.  Advertising, books, TV shows, newspapers, etc., but that type of manipulation, while done skillfully, can be accomplished in an unfair manner.  With God, however, our lives and spirits are in skillful, loving hands.  Just as a medical Dr. will reposition broken bones, or an unborn baby to prepare it for safe delivery, so too, God’s hands form and move us in beneficial ways…yes we are manipulated!  “Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person.” Genesis 2:7.  “And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.…” Isaiah 64:8  That kind of manipulation I want.  Go ahead Lord, mold me and make me in your own way!