Under the Knife

Posted Dec 4, 04:01 AM by Kay Camenisch

They’re going to cut on me today.

In June I fell down some steps and caught myself with my right hand. Upon landing, I tore a tendon that holds the middle finger in line, and I’m scheduled for surgery at 10:00 to correct the damage. It hasn’t been very painful, and the hand looks completely normal to the untrained eye, but I’m going under the knife anyway.

It looks normal, but it doesn’t act normal. When I eat, that finger won’t support a fork properly and often gives way, so I sometimes resort to holding my fork like a one-year-old. It doesn’t support a pen properly either, so my writing is erratic. While rolling my hair or quilting, it feels like my fingers tangle together, and I shake them out to untangle the mess. (The fingers don’t look tangled, but they feel like a ball of spaghetti.) The injury isn’t serious, but it’s always there, constantly calling attention to itself.

As I’ve lived for six months with a finger that’s not dependable, it’s reminded me of the body of Christ—(1) of how important each member is, (2) of the inconvenience and hardship on others when one doesn’t act as part of the team, and (3) of the importance of dependability to getting a job done. I’ve also remembered times when it was a real joy to work with others when everyone did their job and we worked as a team. God knew what He was doing when He made each of us for a particular function.

I dread having my fingers on my right hand immobilized for six weeks of recovery, but I’m grateful I can get it repaired so they will act like a team again.

Paul tells us, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. And since we have gifts that differ . . . (Rom 12:4-6a NASB).