A Wounded Member
a parable of how church life should work
The instant it happened I knew in haste I’d made a foolish error. I was building a display cabinet for my brother, and I was hurriedly working on joining some pieces with a biscuit joiner. Rather than properly clamp a small piece of wood down I held it down with my left hand. The joiner grabbed and pulled the wood and my hand to the right. The end of my middle finger found the blade. I grabbed some rags, wrapped them around my finger, and went to sit down. (I’m not good with blood and it's better to sit down than fall down).
It could have been worse. It chewed up the end of my finger, but I still have a finger. It will heal. When it happened the whole attention of my body turned toward the injured member. My right hand applied the rag and the pressure to stop the bleeding. My eyes, despite their reluctance to do so, surveyed and assessed the damage. My blood immediately began to carry antibodies to fight infection. The cells started working to rebuild and remake the damaged flesh. My nerves signaled all the problems to the rest of the body. My mind processed the information and put in motion plans to deal with the problem. Every member of my body was sympathetic and concerned. Total attention was turned toward that small member.
Since that day, the body has had to move on with life. There is still work to do. Stuff still needs to get done. The finger is mostly sidelined, unable to contribute. It’s healing. While life goes on, the body hasn’t forgotten the needs of the injured member. Every day it gets washed. Fresh bandages are applied. It gets protected as much as possible to not inflict even more pain. It will heal and will eventually be back in service with the rest of the body, but for now, its job is to just get better.
