The Hands of Jesus

and Other Poems

Dorothy Stock (1913-1990) grew up amidst the delightful countryside and natural beauty of Pendle Hill and Morecambe Bay. She explored and adored the natural beauty of Lancashire, and many of these experiences were later re-created in her early poetry.

Her later poetry was composed as a result of an unforgettable weekend at Park Place Conference Centre, where she encountered God's love and power in a deep way. In these poems we see the close presence of the infinitely caring and loving God – creator, sustainer, healer, saviour.

A love of Nature, a love of children, but above all, a love of God.

These three gifts shine through the poems and prayers contained within this book, all appropriately written by a former infant school teacher, Dorothy Stock, known affectionately as Dot, Dotty, or Stocky.
Read them, and you will be uplifted in body, mind and spirit.

Enrich your own prayers by using those words from The New Day : 'Grant me the gift of laughter, Lord, that I can share it with some sad and lonely soul.'

You will also undoubtedly benefit from the delicate and imaginative thought that refers to 'the peace of God, [which] passeth understanding. It wraps around the soul with silken wings, the mind is stilled, and hushed all earthly clamour.' 

So in the words of the Psalmist: 'Taste and see...'

Heather Phillips
Retired head teacher

As I think back to nearly thirty years ago when, as Director of Music at Horfield Parish Church in Bristol, I first came to know Dottie Stock three things stand out in my mind: her gentle smile, her quiet humility and her strength of faith.

Now, as I read through these pages, those three qualities continue to speak to me in this amazing collection of her poems – many of which I am re-reading from the ones included in the annual Christmas card from the Stock household.

In Dottie's poetry we are once again reminded of the love of Jesus – the humble servant king, the eternal hope offered to us through our risen and ascended Saviour, and the sheer joy of being part of God's wonder-filled creation.

For all that we say, 'Thank you and God bless you, Dottie!'

Revd Duncan Jennings

Dorothy Stock's deep faith shone through all her poetry and in her relationship with her family and friends. She saw the hand of God, Our Creator, in the whole of the natural world. Her writings were inspired. It was a privilege for me to have known her.

Rosemary Hatherly

I was honoured to be asked to write my thoughts about a very special person called 'Dottie', who was my 'Twinnie'. She was an integral part of my growing up, and we shared the same birthday.

Her poetry speaks from the heart, and encapsulates all that is beautiful in our world through her love of God and his Son Jesus. Her words speak of sorrow, of joys, of hardships, yet through them all the depth of Dottie's faith in Our Lord shines through.

Dottie shared this with me as I grew up, and supported my growth and development as a Christian, as I struggled with working out what being a Christian meant in our world today. I remember that one Good Friday it snowed; as we walked to church, she looked at the daffodils lining our way and commented, 'Even the daffodils laid down their heads and cried on this day.' I looked and saw that, indeed, all the daffodils had lain down their heads in the snow and truly looked as though they were weeping on the day of crucifixion of Our Lord. That image has stayed with me over the years and her poetry brings so many meaningful images to mind.

Thank you, Dottie. I hope all of you who read her poetry now will see how clearly her words expressed her deep love of God and all that brought with it, whether joyous, sad or testing. Through it all His support and love are constant and unchanging.

Dendy Harris

 
Poetry can say things which prose cannot and the poetry of others can touch us in ways we are not able ourselves to express in any words. Especially where poems take their inspiration from things all of us see – in nature, in our local community, among our family and friends – what they tell us can help us look and listen with fresh eyes and newly opened ears. For Christian people, that's about discerning again the dependence of all that is made and all that befalls us upon the love of God.

These poems from 'Stocky', as I knew her, tell how sensitively she was herself moved by what happened to her in life, both the bright, sunlit times but also the stormy ones, through the whole year, day by day, wherever she was; and how strongly she felt that all she experienced was shaped and held by the love of God. She was, as she would have been the first to admit, an ordinary soul; but another poet tells us that we might just find 'heaven in ordinary'. 

Stocky kept us company when I was part of her congregational family in Bristol and, through what she has written here, her inspiration can go on being present, encouraging, revealing, confirming.

John Rodwell
One time non-stipendiary curate, Holy Trinity, Horfield