A Hand of Friendship If your heart is for peace and my heart is for peace give me your hand. Give me your hand, so small a thing to ask and yet – so big. If I let my hand, touch grasp, clasp your hand, then somehow I have crossed the Rubicon; I cannot be the same. I cannot be the same if, in the clasping of your hand, I dare to raise my head and look into your eyes, and see a mirror image of myself, frightened of trusting, fearful of the unknown, scared to admit your humanity, to be open and vulnerable, lest I am invaded, taken over, lest all ‘they’ have told me over centuries proves to be true about you. Give me your hand. O give me your hand before the moment passes, before the darkness overtakes, and I discover when it is too late, that you were my sister, you were my brother, that together we were being called towards a future bright with hope and promise, by the God whose hand forever reaches out to you and me in friendship, and because of whom we can never be the same. And so, may the peace of Christ be with you, and may He ever flow between us as I give you my hand. © Ruth Patterson