Are My Hands Too Full?

Hands Too Full

C.S. Lewis once wrote: “God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full—there’s nowhere for Him to put it.”

When I first read this, I imagined my hands crammed with all the things I cling to—my ambitions, my curiosities, my comforts, my endless mental chatter. None of them evil in themselves, but together they leave no space for Him.

I think of the times I’ve been restless, scrolling through news or chasing after the next “interesting” thing, while ignoring the quiet nudge to pray. Or the moments I’ve replayed my own concerns again and again in thought, as if my inner monologue were more urgent than the needs of the person beside me.

Even my possessions—those I have and those I wish I had—occupy not just my shelves but my heart. They create a subtle heaviness, a grip I’m reluctant to loosen.

The Catechism reminds us that faith is an “obedience to God… freely committing oneself entirely to God” (CCC 143). But “entirely” means I must set something down. Not just the obviously sinful, but even the excess of the good that has become clutter.

I wonder if God’s greatest gifts to me have often passed by, not because He was withholding them, but because my hands were already busy holding things I couldn’t bear to drop.

Perhaps surrender begins not with grand gestures, but with a sort of daily inventory: What am I clutching today that makes it impossible to receive Him? And then, by grace, letting go—just enough for Him to place something better in my hands.

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