“Ouch!” I felt the hard, cold leg of the iron chair in my kitchen crush my toe as I hurried to answer the phone. Iron, as you know, does not bend; it does not break. But, toes, on the other hand, do and I immediately felt the pain that signaled a break.

 “Ouch!” I said again, a little louder that time, although all who witnessed the ordeal said they would have yelled a lot louder than I did. I’ve never been much of a crier, so I thought my “ouch” was sufficient for one toe that was beginning to throb. After all, it was just one toe—quickly swollen and purple, but just one. Surely just one toe won’t be too bad, I thought, as I hobbled around the kitchen completing the task I was running to do in the first place. 

The crowd of people who had been at the house that night left and I finally gave in to more hobbling and self-examination. That’s when I noticed that two of my other toes, namely toe two and three, were also turning a nasty shade of purple, as well as the top of my foot. Odd, I thought, for just one toe to be battered, but those close enough to touch it also showed signs of distress. I did a few household chores and then decided maybe I should stay off my foot for the rest of the night. (After all, that’s what we do, isn’t it? Tend to everything else, then us.) When I got into bed I noticed that the sheer weight of the covers hurt my entire foot and I slept that night with my foot cold rather than in agony. Still, I went to sleep, hopeful that all would be better in the morning. (In my experience with breaks, I had learned that a break will keep you up at night, where a sprain might not.) 

The next morning my foot did feel better when I first woke up and I had great hopes for the day. But, my expectations were short lived as I placed my foot on the floor and discovered that any weight placed on it resulted in a small whimpering sound made by me. So I did what most people do in this situation, I started limping. Limping is never attractive, it’s just necessary to keep from making those awful whimpering sounds. By the time I left for work, I had the limp thing down and I continued throughout the day, up and down stairs, going to the copy machine, attending kid’s ballgames, driving, running errands, etc. (Again, it’s what we do.)

That night, I not only had a very sore, broken fourth toe, but I also had two other very sore purple toes, a swollen left foot, and had developed pain in my right hip and left calf. Mind you, I had done nothing to my right hip and left calf except using them more than usual as I redistributed my body weight to relieve the weight on one toe.

 Three days into my ordeal, my entire body hurt as it strained to help the one little part of my body that was truly damaged.  I was forced to see a doctor who put the whole foot in a brace. It was a lot for one small toe.

This whole ordeal reminded me of this verse: “If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it.” That passage is found in I Corinthians 12. Paul was called to teach a lesson about working together and understanding the importance of each person’s gifts and talents. Paul uses the analogy of our bodies because he knew it was a language everyone could understand. We understand that we have many parts to our bodies, but there is not one part we would be happy to do without. Sometimes, as kids, we would ask each other questions like, “If you had to lose one, which would you choose. An eye or an ear?” I know it’s silly, but can you answer that? It’s not an easy choice. No one wants to lose a body part. 

I was “painfully” reminded of the power of Paul’s lesson as I felt the struggle one small toe being damaged could cause. When that one small toe hurt, the rest of my body quickly regrouped like an army ready to fight and worked to protect the part that was injured, even to the detriment of itself.  Paul so brilliantly made this point as he said, “Our bodies have many parts and God has put each part just where He wants it.”

Each of you has talents and gifts unique to only YOU! God has blessed you as the mother and grandmother of your family. Every day you do many things that keep your family happy and healthy. Indeed, YOU are valuable! And when you are not able to function like you do on a normal day, hopefully your family rallies around you to help you and make you feel better. 

This is true for our church families as well. Even though we are busy with our own families, the body of Christ needs us too. We need to look for those who are hurting and offer them help. We, like a good functioning body part, should stand ready to help others. Being able to empathize with others when they hurt is truly a trait of a mature Christian. Billy Graham once said that real happiness comes from learning the value of sharing in other’s sorrow, distress, and misfortune.         

I know you are busy. Every day brings challenges as you go about serving your family and others. Some of you work outside the home and then inside the home until it’s time to drop into bed.  It takes effort to listen for an “ouch” from a friend, co-worker or family member. But, when you do, blessings will flow both ways. It will strengthen you just as I noticed my body became stronger as my toe healed. 

God designed us for community because He knew that’s where we would get the strength needed for challenging days and the hoorays needed to cheer us on in our best of days. I pray you have a strong community of believing friends to cheer you on in life. I pray that you listen to the “ouch” of others and rally to support.