It's finger pointing time

August 18, 2015

Somebody has a boo boo.  Okay, it’s me.  I’m the one with the injury.  The other night--against my better judgement--I bit my fingernail.  Some old habits are just so hard to break--or bite.  So, I suffered the consequence when my cuticle decided it was just too attached to the nail itself to let go.  And it didn’t.  It refused to budge.  Finally, painstakingly, I had to rip it from my finger.  To say “ouch!” would not do this hurt justice.

I have rewritten the above paragraph numerous times because of this one little blight on my hand.  This one little portion that is bandaged keeps me hitting the backspace button over and over as it lights upon the wrong keys as I try to type.  The throbbing of it throughout the night was intense.  The way it catches on fabrics has been more than annoying.  All of this inconvenience from one blessed fingernail??

I Corinthians 12 tells us all about this, about how one part makes such a difference in the whole.  Read it with me?

12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

14 For the body is not one member, but many.

15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?

20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.

21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.

25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

In case I ever doubted how vital my role in this Christian walk is, this reminder of size mattering cleared it up.  I mean really:  how many of us think of the cuticles in our churches?  How many of us consider the minute things that cannot be done when this portion of the body is injured?  

How about you, friends?  Ever think you don’t matter, that your contributions are so teeny that they don’t even make a difference?  You would be wrong.  You would be misled.  You would be tricked.  For you see, some of us only have a little to give.  There just has been so much poured out through the years that it seems that if one more soul asks us to do one more thing that we will just quit, that we will just go into hibernation mode, and that we will just suck on our little thumbs ‘til the cows come home and wallow in our misery.  We’ll hide our aches in our flesh-colored bandages and hope no one notices them.  Right?  Because if someone did notice, then we might have to tell what happened.  We might have to reveal our weakness in avoiding old habits that lead us to new anguishes.  We might have to share how this boo boo does not need to be repeated and perhaps our story might help them out in letting them know we don’t have to be perfect to perform.  It’s easier to just sit and burrow, isn’t it, nursing our wounds, and letting others keep us on our shelves, never dusting us off, never picking us up?  When we keep believing we are useless, that there is no more use to us, then the devil wins.  The body suffers.  The crusade of Christ is lessened.

Are you really going to fall for that, friends?  Are you really going to continue thinking you have nothing left to give?  If yes, then shame on you!  Sometimes life hurts!  Sometimes life is unfair!  And yes, some of our pasts are so ugly and scarred that we think they are best left in darkness, left where no one will see them or notice them.  Sigh.  

I think it’s time to pray.  Join me?

Oh dear God!  Thank You for this tearing apart of my flesh to reveal Yourself to me once again.  Thank You for the throbbing in my finger that reminds me of the blood it takes to save my soul.  Thank You for the clumsiness that now avails as I try to type because it makes me be more careful with my words.  Thank You for my weaknesses in returning to old sins to show me that I cannot in my own body make it on my own, that I am in constant need of the other members to function.  Thank You for lessons learned, Father.  May whoever reads this realize they are vital, that they are needed, wanted, and mostly, that they are loved more than they know.  In the name of Christ Jesus I pray.  Amen!