Somewhere in between the hours of the afternoon one day and getting up from bed early the next morning, I stubbed my toe. Not just any toe but my PINKIE toe! So I kind of think it was a middle of the night thing on a trip (no pun intended) to the bathroom. Narrowing it down, I do not remember it being injured when I was going to sleep. It definitely was when I got up for the day though. Rather seriously and it made it’s injured little self known without apology.

So of course that got me thinking about things seemingly insignificant that go on functioning day after day while we are pretty well oblivious to them. Just like a pinkie toe. It doesn’t clamor for attention really. I try to keep it trim and polished pretty but that’s it really. It is just one of the several toes on my foot that I collectively put into a fun shoe of depending on the weather and occasion. And if weather calls for it, a warm colorful sock. And though I loved being a barefoot girl growing up, I do love shoes of all sorts and heel heights. This injury has put a damper on wearing most of the shoes I have without pain.

So why all this rambling about a pinkie toe of all things? Because it makes me think about the scripture that tells us we are all part of the body of Christ. How some think others are more important in the body than they themselves are. You know because others speak publicly or travel to far and foreign countries to minister. Or lay hands on the sick and see them get well! But they think because they are in this “lowly” fairly ignored and insignificant place of life, they are meaningless. Not so dear one! Just a badly stubbed toe caused pain and disruption in how my life operated- for days actually!

One Body but Many Parts 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ.  We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink.  So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.

 Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body.  And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be.  If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.

The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without.  The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honor. The private parts aren’t shown. But they are treated with special care. The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any.  In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy. You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.

And that is the way God sees it! He made you with a purpose. Enjoy it! Do you like gardening and canning? Do it with joy! Share with others. Do you have a head for the business world? Take Him there with you! Do you have kids of all ages you are raising? You are incredibly important! Do you change the toilet paper roll in the church bathroom? Are you a greeter? Do you mow the lawn, shovel the walkway at home, church or for a neighbor? Help someone get to an appointment that can’t get themselves there? Can you smile at another person as you go about your errands? None of us are to think more highly of ourselves than the next. Let’s do the thing He puts before us in love and with all our might and watch it flourish and prosper in His hand.

And so ends my discourse on “The Pinkie Toe”. God bless you with blessings that overflow and run over to the next person!

Life feeling turned upside down lately?

You may be moving from the salt box into the salt shaker.

You know maybe you have already been being salt in a situation. And for the most part pretty satisfied with your salty self there. Then the most uncomfortable thing happens. Your time there is finished. Completed. Nothing left for you to do there. How bewildering and perhaps even painful this sudden loss of place or position and seeming meaning to your life and purpose.

Maybe some of you like engaging CHANGE in life. Me? No not so much. Give me stability with a bit of challenge mixed in but major change is not something I hunt for as part of my life pattern.

Consider something though. Salt goes through changes to get to the place of being useable. It has to be mined from underground deposits or from salt water deposits then processed to clean and separate it from other things we wouldn’t want to eat…In part of the refining it is set to dry in the sun letting the water evaporate…maybe you don’t feel turned upside down you just feel unclean and clumpy or left to dry out. But you are of great value, oh salty one and are in process to increase your value.

Then you get put in a place that seems set away and dark. You are clean. You are ready for purposeful things but you are in a round box up on a shelf. You are being salt but not to full potential yet. And then suddenly you move or your world moves and you are poured into something small and very possibly transparent, and set a bit further into the light but to be used. To be turned upside down when needed. To season. To preserve. To cleanse. To heal. You are shaken. And it is for a purpose and a plan in the Master’s hand.

You may think, I am just a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, kid, student, store clerk, laborer, or whatever upscale or low scale thing you may think of yourself and occupation. But whatever shaker God has placed you in, YOU ARE SALT. What if you feel life is too much of the same old, same old for now in those places? You may very well be a steady seasoning or preservation right there where you are. And if you feel a bit shaken by life these days realize you are found useful for yet another purpose by God. Be glad. Really. Being poured out can be a good thing!

Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth but if the salt has lost its saltiness how shall it be made salty again?

I was thinking today about bitterness and brokenness. I was thinking about how we put protective shells around us when we are hurt and broken. Like a cast around a broken leg to help the bone get a chance to be supported and healed.

But what if? Just what if we never take the cast off the leg? When we get a cast people commiserate with us. They autograph the cast and help decorate with fun sayings or pictures. Kind of like when we are newly broken emotionally and people listen and comfort, you know? And really no one blames us for a while if we are taking measures to protect ourselves. Maybe some will even encourage us to harden ourselves.

But again…what if? What if we never take the cast off? What if we forget to allow ourselves to be tenderhearted and kind again and just stay hard? It stinks really. Then atrophy sets in and the limb becomes useless. We never walk quite right.

A cast is heavy, inflexible, picking up dirt. Bitterness is like that. Makes our hearts heavy, hard and looking for the worst, letting it cling to us. Long after the real need for the cast around our soul, the cast of bitterness brings attention to the wound that should by now be healed, ready for training in moving, building muscle operating as a fully functioning part of the body again.

When it comes to the wounds of the soul, we don’t get to wrap up in layers of gauze and plaster so we wrap up in anger, a cold shoulder, snippy remarks, gossip and so on. That is the cast God comes to remove.

So do not fear, for I am with you;

 do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

 I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

He does not promise life will not hurt ever again. But He will be our strength and His hand will hold us up. He will be with us. He will be the one to harden us to difficulties in a way that does not cause our soul to atrophy but instead can make us stronger.

When we are taking off old things making way for the new year, bitterness is a cast it is time to remove. Time to take out the surgeon’s saw of forgiveness and cut that thing off.

It was one of the nearly perfect winter days today. Sunny and comparatively warm (45 degrees). My afternoon schedule was rearranged so I had some free time to use putting Christmas stuff away in the shed which I did not want to attempt on a below 30 day. I may have grown up a Northwest Indiana Girl but there are still things I don’t particularly want to do on a cold day. Tackling stiff storage tub lids in an unlit, unheated shed is one of them. Need warmer temps and sunshine, which I was happy to have today.

I also switched out door wreaths, put fresh bird food out front, and organized a few shelves. Then since Marty was off visiting a shut in I had time to sit in a chair by our picture window to have a mug of tea while finishing up Middle of the Mess by Sheila Walsh and a Bible Study on Philippians by Joyce Meyers. And journal, ponder and pray.

Glancing up I told myself I should try to catch the sunset today. You know take time to enjoy the paintings God sends us. So many people post amazing pictures of the glorious sky while I tend to forget to take a look at the free art show when it comes my way. Then I saw the window was less than sparkling clean. I had cleaned it inside and out a few months ago in the fall. Slowly but surely the grime of life, weather and no maintenance made it dingy.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood…from Romans 1:20

That is the way my mind tends to go-finding a spiritual truth in the everyday based on that verse. I thought about how easily and pretty much without notice, our lives can get smudged…purpose for life growing unclear.

We can let life happen day after day without spending time in God’s word and worshipping him (I get it young mommy, I raised eight) This may not be the season for long prayer, study, journaling sessions. God is not requiring that from us in a religious legalistic way. Having ONE scripture that to think about through the day is meditating on His word. It is washing ourselves with the water of His word. Cleaning our “window” so we can see more clearly with His viewpoint. It is planting ourselves along streams of water and growing strong. Just one scripture you say?

Yes even one scripture if we will take hold of it through our day will do that over time. It will renew our mind so we think God thoughts. It helps us practice the presence of God in our lives and gives us peace as our mind is fixed on Him through His word.

Sometimes (many times really) we are just clipping along in life, busy, busy, busy when suddenly we realize we are in an entirely new season. We are there sometimes just as the natural order of things…winter to spring ect…infants to toddlers…teens grown and married…But sometimes there is distinct almost abrupt change. The doing we are used to doing is not fitting or even an option any more. Afterall doing it for the sake of doing something out of habit because we have always done is not always what should be happening.

 We may have entered into the season I have come to call “The Season of Being Pulled Back”. I suppose there are many reasons a person could be in that season but they are not all bad. In fact I have come to see, thank God, there is a very GOOD purpose in the pulled back stage.

Look at this little picture posted from Brave.

Notice what she is doing with her bow and arrow. Get it? Thinking of ourselves in the hand of God, He is the One who shapes us into the straight arrow, with polished shaft, sharp tip, clean feather lines, notch perfect. ‘And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand has he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he hid me.’ Isaiah 11:4

 . We might simply and profoundly be in a season of refurbishing. We might be a favored arrow used time and again in need of some tender loving care in the hand of the Archer. We might be in the quiver for a time to be pulled out for a specific purpose refitted with a new arrow head.

But take note and heart lovers of God who seek to serve His purposes. He knows the season and the purpose and the preparation. You may in this moment be in His hand fitted to the string of the bow, which is even now being pulled back in careful aim to hit a specific mark. And pulled back you must be or you will never reach the distance with the impact necessary. Take heart if this is your season. It is not one of rejection from the Most High but one of cherished preparation. You are blessed!