What a Difference a Thumb Makes

Okay, so this past weekend, I qualified for the clumsy Olympics. Out of all of the potential ways I could possibly injure myself, I had not counted on one such way playing with my cat, Gracie. She is quite doglike in nature; she loves to routinely play fetch. That’s right, a cat who plays fetch. And that means I routinely throw various cat toys down our long hallway. That’s what led to this weekend’s injury. While playing fetch with Gracie, I was constantly throwing her chosen toy, her red lobster (with no pupils, only white eyeballs, an early casualty of Gracie’s enthusiasm) down the hallway. After, after a number of throws, I guess my right arm was tired, so, I inadvertently hit the wall with my hand. Ye-e-e-eow-w-w-w!!!! Pain, pain, pain was radiating through my thumb and index finger, all the way through to my upper arm. And, on top of all of that, I was also forming a lovely little blood blister underneath my thumb. Yeah. I sat for the next two hours with frozen juice cans applied to my thumb, now resembling a swollen bratwurst and right palm. This was not my most fabulous moment. But it made me think of the scriptural passage of 1 Corinthians 12:12-28: “12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.” And, in my swollen, hurting moment, the verse that especially sprang to my mind was verse twenty-six: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” I started thinking about how comparing ourselves against one another instead of recognizing our uniqueness does ourselves, others and God a huge disservice. How many of us covet what someone else has? Looks, success, money, a spouse, a family? These are just a few options we seem to want for ourselves, while diminishing the things we currently have. But we waste time by coveting- and we keep hurting and allowing hurt “from other members” to occur as well. Since last weekend, I have really missed the ability of my right thumb. It’s amazing how this little member is used to do so much. Things like typing, washing my hair and grasping a doorknob now have heightened an awareness of just special my right thumb is to me. Is it the classic clichéd statement, “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone?” Perhaps. I know it took a hurting thumb to even get me thinking about my thumb. And appreciation of whatever we have in our lives is vital. What are you dismissing, considering as “less than” about yourself and your life? Stop looking at someone else, wishing for their stuff. Start looking at yourself and valuing everything about you and your life. May you embrace the incredible member of God’s plans you already are! Consider it a “rule of thumb.” May yours never be swollen and hurting. Copyright © 2012 by Sheryle Cruse