No, you cannot take his skull home as a bowl for your coffee table.
Sheeeeze. Some people are total kill joys…
This was a conversation my professor and I had one day in the cadaver lab. We were studying the …………eeeeek. Let me stop there. Anybody that has ever read any of my blogs knows they can be very descriptive and honest and raw.
Like the disclaimer on TV: The following portrays real events of real people and may be disturbing to young viewers. Viewer discretion is advised. AKA… Imma talk blood and guts to ya. Yum dinner table talk, you know. So if ya don’t like it and need to leave, I wont judge you too harshy.
staying? Alright. Lets get messy.
This was a conversation between my professor and I in the cadaver lab. {{Cadaver=dead body of a real human… that happens to be, real dead.}}
and, I know it sounds crazy, Justin thinks its pretty morbid, but, playing with a dead body was one of my greatest achievements so far this year… jusssayin. I LOVED it. Moving on.
still staying? great. (I like your style) anyway, we were getting ready to saw the skull in half to dissect & learn about the central nervous system (CNS). We had to cut the skull just right so we would not cut into the brain or sever the spinal cord.
Well, the rest of the class was being perfect (non-ADHD) students, investigating the CNS once the skull was removed. The professor just sets the top of the skull off to the side. Instead of poking and squishing on our cadaver’s brain, I went over to look at the top of the skull. Wouldn’t you know, it is the perfect little bowl.
Nice little round, organic bowl. The sutures of bones (areas where bones have fused together) looked like tiny rivers running in a perfect yet irregular pattern. I loved it!!
My teacher at this point noticed my lack of interest in the CNS and came over. I looked at him… in all seriousness…. and asked him…. “Can I have it.”
*slightly stunned….“What on earth for?!”
*Energetically* “This would look so great on my coffee table. You know, catch a few coins or keys when ya come in. come on. Let me get it.”
…*in disbelief* …..*long pause* …..“Absolutely not”.
…”aw, come on. You’re just gonna toss it. It would look so cool! ….and different! Come on.”
…*in disbelief* …..*long pause* (repeat)
…*in disbelief* …..*long pause* “Amy, No, you cannot take his skull home as a bowl for your coffee table.”
Kill joy, right?!!?
well, now that I have your attention, let me tell you what I’ve learned so far in the quest to get two letters behind my name.
(RN, jusssssssssst in case you needed help with that one)
Our bodies are……
beyond any vocabulary that I have stored up to give it a proper adjective.
Incredible? Nah, too vague.
Breathtaking? Too cliché.
Mind-Blowing? …..literally, too gruesome.
((have you SEEN a real brain?! I mean really.)
Point is… our bodies are infinitely complex and extraordinary. I’ve held a real, human heart in my hands. I’ve seen the mechanisms and the microscopic details of it. I’ve learned how it sustains us, every second of every hour… every day. We cannot live without it.
I had a doctor’s appointment recently and we talked about the idea of possibly having to remove my gallbladder. That got me thinking about the organs and parts that we can live without. And, it was quite fascinating really. I mean, why do we have tonsils if they are just gonna yank them out when we are learning our ABCs. (shout out to 90s kids! Apparently, they don’t do this anymore?! Sucka) Same thing for ole’ appendix. Giving you a hint of trouble? No problem, we will just take it on out for ya. If we can live without these 3 guys hanging around in our bodies, then what in the world are they there for?!
And, then ta-da!! Magical reveal: I realized….this is where I’ve been since I left the Race.
I’ve been a tonsil.
I’ve just been hanging around, not doing anything, not contributing, nothing. Sure, go ahead and remove me, I wont be missed. I’m not an asset to the body. Who needs me anyway? And besides, I hear you’ll get ice-cream if you do…
But, God tells me differently. He says that I am an important part, that I do have a role, that I do serve a purpose (other than just getting inflamed.) That His design is far greater and deeper than what today’s science or society can tell me.
Even if it doesn’t make sense… that me being a tonsil… is critical to the function as a whole.
I’ve spent so many months searching for answers to my worldrace. A lot of me still hurts and grieves for it. ((I’ve been dreaming of Africa.)) I’ve had a secret desire to win the lottery so me ANNNNNNND Justin can go on the Worldrace. {{T-O-G-E-T-H-E-R!}} My passion for missions has started itching again. My love for God…has been nurtured. Our relationship has had some attending to. I’m growing and loving and encouraging and >>speaking life<< again. I’ve starting seeing evidence of the person God called me to be-(HIS). And, I’ve realized that I am at a crossroads of sorts.
Because, what if…when its all said and done…at the end of the day… that in fact, I am just merely… a tonsil?
That I am in the back…in the shadows… {Quiet}.
Instead of being the shining super star
with lights
and glitter
and a fan club
…like the proud *heart*?
*Que dazzling lights*
What if…for instance, I don’t get to go to Africa? What if, at my ten year high school reunion, I don’t have anything to show and tell like I envisioned I would? What if all I ever become in this life is a housewife? That changes awful poop diapers?? What if… who I am in Christ.. is just a measly old tonsil?
Then, be who you are.
Be the tonsil.
Because, what if I don’t get to go to Africa…
….but one of the girls in my bible study does.
because, what if… at my high school reunion (that is creepily around the corner…) I don’t have a passport full of country stamps to show off but instead, is humbled that I have the opportunity to reconnect with an old friend? Encourage someone struggling with addiction? Be Jesus to my old classmates?
….because… what if I am such a God fearing and honoring and praying wife that it results in tangible impact for the daily life of my police officer husband who then impacts others?
What if that smelly baby grows up to know and LOVE the Lord and sets out on their own journey for the Kingdom?
Because… what if I really am just a tonsil.
or a gallbladder.
or an appendix.
or clump of adipose tissue.
Then, be who you are.
where you are.
….with the resources you have in front of you.
Be the tonsil.
Because no matter how small you feel, how less you think you are contributing, how often you get overlooked…
YOU are critical.
YOU do make a difference.
YOU are needed.
YOU are wanted.
God does not make junk.
“The body is not one part, but many parts. If the foot should say, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that would not stop it from being a part of the body. If the ear should say, “I am not a part of the body because I am not an eye,” that would not stop it from being a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye how would it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how would it smell? But God has put all the parts into the body just as He wants to have them. If all the parts were the same, it could not be a body. But now there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.” Or the head cannot say to the feet, “I do not need you.” Some of the parts we think are weak and not important are very important. We take good care of and cover with clothes the parts of the body that look less important. The parts which do not look beautiful have an important work to do. The parts that can be seen do not need as much care. God has made the body so more care is given to the parts that need it most. This is so the body will not be divided into parts. All the parts care for each other. If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it. If one part is given special care, the other parts are happy.”
1 Corinthians 12:14-26
Be who you are…
because we, the body of Christ, need you.
Because being a tonsil… isn’t a bad thing.
