As I grew up, I noticed that an elderly relative always wore a distorted shoe. I learned that, due to an accident in her childhood, she had to have one toe amputated. As a result, any shoe she wore always became twisted out of shape because one small toe was missing.
She had to choose her shoes carefully and comfortable ones were often expensive. In later life, it caused an impediment to her walking and she was often unbalanced.
Even though it was unseen and unnoticed, her one missing toe added many cares and altered habits to her life.
I have seen how one absent part distorts the body so when Paul wrote to the church that ‘you are the body of Christ,’ I begin to see what he meant.
There is some distortion of the body when even the smallest item is missing and the body has to put in place many ways of coping with the missing part.
Paul is talking about our God ‘who numbers the stars one by one and calls each by name’ so he understands the importance of every detail created. (Psalm 147:4.)
Each toe is important to the total body, so remember, ‘we were all brought into one body by baptism, whether Jews of Greeks, slaves or free’ and ‘you are Christ’s body.’ (1st Corinthians 12:13,27.)
Let us not make a twisted shoe but let us be aware of the beauty of Christ’s body not distort it through amputation.
Elizabeth Price