…that “there really is no best in a world of individuals”*, a quote I offered my thoughts on some days ago, exists in the GPS that God uses. God’s GPS doesn’t stand for global positioning device. It stands for God Positioning Scripture.* Every once in awhile God throws a piece of bible wisdom down on the road in front of me and dares me to ignore it. Ever since I wrote the piece on that quote, it still wouldn’t leave my thoughts, then yesterday I stumbled upon this:
“A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.” I Cor. 12:15
First and foremost, before I even digested the meaning of this piece of scripture, I was enamored with the language used to describe why we are made the way we are. Especially the where Eye was described as “limpid and expressive.” Such a beautiful piece of writing, I felt compelled to share it with you.
Next, it just reiterates that “it takes a village” for all of us. We need everyone that God has placed so strategically in our life, to help us move through our days, accomplishing that which we were put on this Earth for. Each person gives us something special that we need and no one person could be our end-all, just as the body could not be all Eye. Many of us even have wonderful spouses that we have been married to for a very long time, but our total lives could not be lived only exclusively with each other. We need the different things we get from our children, family, friends, co-workers, etc. and each person has a unique gift that enhances our lives, and because each gift is so unique, one person in our lives cannot possibly be better than another. (Go back to what Foot said in the verse above.)
There is a great book I’ve mentioned a couple of times before that talks about how everyone needs to build their “tribe” to help them get along in their lives. It’s a book written for girls starting out on the road of life specifically, but it is helpful to those of us women reinventing our lives, too. It’s called “If You Have To Cry, Go Outside and All the Other Things Your Mother Never Told You” written by successful publicist, Kelly Cutrone. ( If you have a girl graduating from either high school or college, this book is a great gift.) The idea of “building your tribe” is illustrated beautifully in the verse above to show how we depend on our “tribe” for the strength to travel our journey. We are connected and move together through life, just as our bodies are.
Today, take a careful look around at the the people God put in your “tribe”. Is there anyone who is always there, no matter what, and you are maybe taking them for granted? If so, stop and take a moment to tell them what they mean to you, say thank you, and above all, tell them you love them.
And so, as another day goes by, I love my “tribe”, and…I have written.
* Hosea Ballou
* Interstate 80, by Dr. Joel C. Hunter
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