Y’all may or
may not know that my husband injured his wrist whilst snow skiing a couple of
months ago. I MAY have mentioned it. A time or two…or more. Because I have been
moaning and whining about it like a big old baby. And it has been utterly
ridiculous how it has unraveled me. Look, there’s just no reason to try to
sugar coat it, even if I could. In fact, I told my beloved on the way to his
surgeon today that I have not been stewarding this season well. I mean, for the
love of all things sane, I have just about loss my mess over things like my
husband’s inability to drive.
So,
basically, I’m the biggest wimp there ever was. His injury is not life threatening.
This is not all encompassing. This is a tiny temporary shift that has rocked my
world like an earthquake.
Lesson
learned.
I’m far more
like my very inflexible Granny than I’d ever care to admit. Yet I am admitting
it. Here. On the world wide web. Which, as I tell my kids, means like FOREVER.
As in on my permanent record.
Lest you
think I’m just ridiculously selfish (although
I am), I do feel the need to set the record straight a bit. Not in my
defense (because there is none). But
just for context.
You see,
when my husband called from the New Mexico ER during on his annual “cheap” guys
trip, and he told me he broke his wrist.
Bummer. I
thought.
Except he
didn’t just break his wrist. He did some tedious and complex damage to some
super important bones and he did a bang up job (pun intended) on damaging a vital ligament.
Never in my
life did I think I’d become so well acquainted with the scavoid bone. And the
lunate. And that ligament in between them. Or the fact that there’s very
little blood flow in this area, which makes healing very slow. And did you know that all
these pieces and parts are important to the function and mobility to the wrist? A wrist which is also important for the entire body.
Never did I
think I’d also become so familiar with how restrictive life becomes when your
one little wrist becomes a liability rather than an asset.
Let’s just
say that ziplock bags have become my darling’s nemesis. Along with childproof
medicine bottles. Containing necessary pain pills.
Other restrictions in life right now include the aforementioned inability to drive. And other things that fall into the category
of "mine for now" that used to be "his to do": folding laundry, helping with
trash, taking out recycling, taking the clothes to the dry cleaners, going to the bank. And so on and so forth.
Over our 21 years of marriage, we’ve quite nicely dividing the work load, and I’ve
benefited immensely from being married to a man who insists on being very
hands-on with all things.
Hands-on.
Which
requires two hands, optimally.
Lest you think I'm just vying for attention and sympathy, there’s a
point to my sob story. Besides playing the martyr and revealing how very petty
I can be.
All of this.
Every bit of this two month (and counting) adventure of recovery has highlighted one all-important
TRUTH that we are oh-so-prone to forget.
You is
important.
YOU.
Yes, YOU.
YOU is
important.
You may not
think that you have much to contribute. You may not see your gifts or talents
or time as valuable. You may doubt your worth. You may question what you have
to offer. Perhaps others have beaten you down into this place of doubting.
Maybe life has worn you out. Maybe you’ve been injured by betrayal. Or rejection.
The circumstances of life may have stretched you to your limits, like my
husband’s stretched out ligament. Pain and loneliness and trials may have
broken you like a shattered bone.
But, I’m
here to tell you. If there’s anything I’m learning on this path of life, it’s
that YOU IS IMPORTANT.
The way a
tiny little scavoid bone works in tandem with the lunate bone. And the
never-before-known ligament betwixt them has a very important role to play to play, too.
Maybe you
think no one even knows your name or has ever heard of you.
But the body
still needs you.
In fact, you are vital to the healthy and full function to the entire body.
As I looked
at that X-ray this morning in the surgeon’s office, deciphering the gray and
white film with alien looking shapes, I thought of you.
And I
realized that you needed to know. You needed to be reminded. I just had to come home and tell you.
YOU IS
IMPORTANT.
The Word of God uses the term “the Body of Christ” for very good
reason. It paints a beautiful picture of how we are to function together. All
of us, interdependently. Every last one who declares the name of Jesus and seeks to follow him.
We are one
Body.
And every
teeny tiny part of the body is necessary. It’s needed and valuable. The function
and health and overall well-being of the entire body depends on every last body
part to do its job and to fulfill its purpose.
You see, you
is important.
And when you
are not well, or not functioning, it impacts others. As it should. As it is
designed to do. We are called to mourn with those who mourn and to rejoice with
those who rejoice (Romans 12:15). We are commanded to carry one another's
burdens (Galatians 6:2).
If you are
not well, then your Biblical mandate is to rely on the Body of Christ to help
you. Do not deny your local church body or the entire Body of Christ an
opportunity to do its job and fulfill God’s commandments. Don’t go limping
along, unable to fulfill your role, without crying out for the help of the
Body.
And other
body parts…when some part is hurting and broken…pay attention. Be there. Show
up. Help out. Be part of the healing process. Asking Christ, who is head of the
body, to pour out healing and return full function to the broken, fractured
parts. While that healing occurs, you may just need to compensate. You may need
to jump in and do some things for the part that’s not functioning.
So, just fill
in the gap. For now.
Let me add, while this may not be popular to say, I feel I must also add this disclaimer. By all
means, let us not exploit the other Body parts. Let us not refuse to fulfill
our own role and purpose, being dependent on some other body part to do our
job. Let us not use our own healing time as an excuse, deciding we will just
never function in the body again because of that one wound.
And other body
parts, don’t enable a broken member of the body to continue to drag along,
letting it be limp when it really can work toward full functionality.
You see, it’s
a fine line. The healing time can be tricky. As the surgeon said today. Chris’
wrist must be immobilized long enough to heal, but not so long that it cannot
restore its function. None of this process is fun. To sustain an injury and then be
unable to do what you’re designed to do.
Broken body
parts need to be healed by the One whose stripes made us whole. That process
can include a time of being still and immobile. Relying on other body parts to
step in. But there is also a time to go through a painful rehabilitation. Stretching tight muscles. Straining through scar tissue.
Exercising repeatedly the functions that the body part was created to perform in the first place.
Over and over and over again, and not without pain and strain and frustration.
All of it—every
aspect of the recovery process—is necessary.
Because God
said it himself.
We are all
members of ONE BODY.
We ALL have
an important part to play. A function to contribute. A calling to fulfill. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Whether you
are the obvious mouthpiece to the body who garners attention as you speak to large groups.
Or the feet
of the body who goes to exotic locations to spread the good news.
Or the hand
of the body who writes books to encourage the body and inform the world about
Christ.
Even if you
feel insignificant because you are some tiny little bone that no one has ever
heard of until it is so fractured it cannot do its job.
Yep. Even if you
are a scavoid bone, you matter just as much.
May my
whining and complaining be used for better purposes. May I use my failures in
this season to highlight to every last one of you the very, very important
lesson that we are learning over here at our house.
Every member
of the body is important. Every member was designed to bring glory to God.
Every member was gifted uniquely. And, every member is vulnerable to injury. Seasons of healing may be required, when the other members of the body step in
and take over.
There—in those
dark and frustrating days of restraint and soreness and pain—may we remember
that God is the Healer. He is the One who restores what is broken. He has a
plan and a purpose and he can redeem even our broken seasons to point to his
glory.
As surely as
the bright white bones on an X-ray point me to a Marvelous Creator who has
intricate and complex plans for how we are to all fit together. How we are to all work together. How we are to
all rely on one another and carry each others' burdens and ask for help when
needed.
And continue
on in this lifelong journey of realizing our role in the Body and using all of
the talents, time and resources that God gave us to further His kingdom.
That one
day, when we see him face-to-face, he will say, “Well done, good and faithful
servant. Way to be the Scavoid bone!” Or, “Job well done as the Lunate bone! You
took full advantage of what I made you to be, and you worked so well with the other body parts around you!"
Indeed.
Lord, please bring good from my failures here. Let every last member of the body reading this blog feel a surge of hope and joy in the truth that you made them for a purpose and you desire to use them within the body to glorify your Precious Name! Amen!
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