Well I am 2 for 2 so far….2 continents and 2 injuries to my body. I have heard you leave a little piece of you wherever you go but I had no idea it meant tangible pieces. As you may recall my toenail accident in Africa; Europe wasn’t to much different rather this time it was my fingertip.
A couple Sundays ago we were slightly scrambling around to get ready for church and prepare lunch. I felt like I was ready for church so I choose to jump in on the lunch preparation which was going to be simple. A basic ham/turkey sandwich with cheese and carrots. So I began to wash the carrots before setting them out to serve them.
Gina, my teammate, had this great idea to change out the attachment on our cheese slicing contraption in order to chop up the carrots that would leave a wavy design. Actually if you rotated the carrot after each slice you got more of a waffle carrot. In the pinch to get it done, I took off at full speed, full of joy and excitement to be making fancy carrot slices for the team. Midway through the first carrot I started to get the hang of it and was cutting at an incredible rate, easily 5 cuts/second.
Then I said to Gina, “Man, you could really mess yourself up on this cheese grater.”
Shortly after making my profound statement, the end of the carrot approached faster than expected. Before I knew it I cleanly cut off part of the tip of my left pointer finger (yes, I am lefty too). No joke, slightly larger than a sunflower seed worth of flesh landed in the pile of carrots and blood started flowing. The good news is it was a clean quick cut that didn’t make it down to the bone.
The following couple of weeks was challenging with my new wrapped up slightly swollen finger. I never quite realized how important the tip of your finger is to you. It was difficult to tie my shoes, brush my teeth, cook, carry items, write in my journal, and I even had to go back to the good ol hunt and peck method to type out emails. The struggle was real. I told my teammates multiple times “You never know how important your fingertip is until it hurts to use it.”
This is important to remember when you reflect on being part of the body of Christ. Often times we want to think of ourselves as a large part of the body or need to be a large part to feel apart of the body. Large as in we see ourselves as the “head” because people come to us for guidance; “feet” because we travel sharing the Gospel; “hands” because we are involved in service projects; “mouth” because we are a preacher. Yes, roles vary and you act as a different part depending on the situation but let’s be honest, no one desires to be the fingertip.
In my prior blog I wrote how sometimes internally I will feel separated from the body, or not playing a significant role. But throughout this journey God is rewriting the script. Providing constant reminders that even the small parts – toenails and fingertips are highly important!
You know the awesome thing about being the “fingertip” is that you touch every other part of the body and you reach out to others! Provide the contact to serve people, to heal people, to give to people, and to touch lives in an unique way. Embrace your identity in Christ because He can do extraordinary things with the small things!
Here are some photo links too!
Parnu, Estonia https://plus.google.com/photos/107282943816308544941/albums/6001715926292407169
Tartu, Estonia https://plus.google.com/photos/107282943816308544941/albums/6002066975703895489
Valga, Estonia https://plus.google.com/photos/107282943816308544941/albums/6001722544836278257
