One time I was fishing with some friends in Maine. We were floating down the Ossippee River from a small town in New Hampshire, Freedom, to our canoe take out spot in a small town in Maine, Kezar Falls. The whole canoe trip, including fishing, took most of the day. The distance is about 6-8 miles the way the river twists and bends. The water is often slow moving and in places, quite deep. Since the water flow is so gentle the trip was easy and relaxing.

We were about a mile or so from our destination when a little Tom Foolery between us caused our canoe to capsize. We were just underneath an old wooden covered bridge, a New England icon, at the time of the mishap. This particular bridge, known locally as “The Old Porter Bridge”, was over a span of fairly deep water. All of our fishing gear, clothes, what have you, went to the bottom. We spent the next hour or so diving to the bottom and bit by bit finding our gear in the clear Maine waters. We placed it in the canoe as we retrieved it.

On one occasion I jumped feet first from the shore. As I was descending, one of my friends was coming up and playfully put his foot on my shoulder and pushed off of me to propel himself to the surface. The force also pushed me violently downward. I struck my foot on something jagged and ripped open the side of my foot near the base of my little toe. It was very deep and needed to be wrapped tightly to stop the bleeding. When we arrived at the spot that we pulled out the canoe, I could hardly stand on that foot. I thought that it was because the wound was fresh and the bone and muscle around that area were bruised. I figured that in a day, maybe two, the healing would start and I’d be fine. After all, it’s just a little toe, right? Wrong. It took the rest of that summer to get to the place where I could wear a shoe and walk without a limp.

The little toe seems so insignificant when you look at it. You wonder if it fell off if it would even matter. The truth is that we can manage without things and we can manage when a small part is hurting, but it does make the whole a little less complete, a little less at peace.

The same applies to the Body of Christ. We may at times feel as if we’re a small or insignificant part of the Body. There may be times when we wonder if we fell off the Body if anybody would really even notice, or care. The truth is that they would. We are all placed in the Body right where we are for a purpose, and although, like the little toe, we may not be able to clearly see or understand that purpose, it doesn’t mean that there is no purpose. The absence of that little toe or pinky finger or whatever, would cause that body to limp and have to learn to compensate for the loss.

Don’t give up on yourself if you sometimes feel this way. Don’t give up on others either. You may look at friends, loved ones or children and wonder to yourself if they are ever going to see their own worth or if they are ever going to discover and understand their own place in the wonderful Body of Christ. You may look at your co-workers, classmates, church members, or what have you and see them as precious and wonderful and be surprised to find out that they don’t see themselves as the valuable member of the Body that you know them to be.

Maybe this week would be a great time to tell those around you of the great value that you place on them and the great worth that they are to you and to the Body of Christ. Everyone enjoys having their place in the Body validated from time to time. It just might be that reading this message, you can come to see that we are all subject to those feelings and questions, but I know all of you personally and I can say that we all need all of you if the Body is to stand up on its two feet and be strong, supported by all of us little toes.

Blessings!

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