I recently heard a leadership teaching by Andy Stanley, where he talked about his organization’s policy for “answering with your palms up.” I had never considered this technique before, but he talked about how, if you’re in a tense situation, should simply sit with your hands on your lap, palms up. It reduces defensiveness and helps you to answer in humility.
I completely forgot about the teaching within an hour of hearing it. Last night a friend reminded me of the “palms up” principle and I put it into practice right away – not in a face-to-face conversation with a person, but in my small dialogues with my Heavenly Father.
The act of holding hands out with the palms up seems to be a universal sign of vulnerability, humility, ignorance, generosity, and surrender.
Today is a significant day for me. It’s the Monday after my last week in Grand Forks and the first day of Kids Camp. On this day last year, I received an invitation to serve in a place I had never dreamed of. I began considering the implications of serving in a place so different from my home culture and from the Colombian culture I had come to love.
A year later I’m preparing for this new opportunity with a sober understanding of the reality of this adventure. More than ever, I need to live, to pray, to think, to speak, and to respond with my palms up. Nothing that I have is mine to keep, not even my own rights and privileges.
Amazingly, it’s the upward palms that are most ready to receive. I know that as I live with a surrendered heart and will, I will receive the fullness of His grace to be effective in all that I do.