Give nerve endings credit. Those small receptors in our hands connect us to the world in a way we could easily ignore. Touch creates realness from smoothing a sheet to squishing mud pies. We naturally reach out to other humans. Think today how important touching creatures is to us and them.
I’m glad I was raised in a family where hands to animals was important. Early on I learned to smooth the feathers of a chicken held under daddy’s arm and be rewarded with a gentle cluck. Cleaning fish taught me about the difference between fish with scales and the smoothness of a catfish. Pigs had little stiff hairs while hands on cows could almost glide over their bodies. Taking my children to the petting zoo taught me about prickliness of baby elephants without ever having to leave Texas. Sheep wool really is oily. I know because Sarah’s visit to the Live Stock show always involved sticking her finger into their coats to measure how thick it was. When I did the same, my fingers had the on site feel of a squirt of lanolin.
Through my adult life, I’ve added other touches. My least favorite was sitting in a row with 5th graders while the lecturer walked down with a snake wrapped around his arm for all to give a two finger touch. “Are you going to do it, Mrs. Smith?’ ” Yes, of course.” I learned they really aren’t slimy, and I don’t care to do it again. On a whale watching trip, a mother came up next to our small boat and nudged up her baby to rub his barnacled skin against the rough side. When I scratched his back, it had a rubbery feel like I would imagine a wet suit to have. Just last week, I added to my list the rubbing the back of an opossum who was part of raptor center display.
Even if your touches have not been venturous, most people have tactile contact with cats, dogs, and horses. We had one cat who chose to stay out at night. The first person up let her in. She would come to my bed, get on my chest, rub with her paws and tell me about her night while I stroked the top of her head. The two adult children who have dogs find delight in the animals’ response to both roughhousing and head on a knee just to be close and touching. Watching a horse come near a human and lay a cheek near the human’s shoulder calls for a response to closeness. The all increases for a closeness with a like creature. A strain of the pandemic has been the creation of a no touch climate. I’ve patted my children on the shoulder and can’t remember kissing unmasked. Preemie twins joined our neighborhood. The parents went to visit, not only to hold, but to pull back shirts to allow the feel of skin on skin. I felt tears only when a my age couple ahead at church were holding hands, and I wanted David to be able to be hand in hand with me. We are still waiting for that unrestrained moment of reaching out and drawing in. Matthew 9 expresses the deep longing for touch. When it actually happens, healing occurs.
But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.
Matthew 9:25
Let Me Tell Ya 