— Midweek Meditations:
thoughts, inspiration and encouragement
from ACF community members —
I am a toe. Not just any toe, mind you, I’m a Big toe. To be precise, I’m the big toe on the left foot of a young girl named Caroline.
Life as a toe is not idyllic. We bear most of the body’s weight, and we are always scuffing around in the dirt, or being stubbed on furniture, or surrounded by stinky socks. If our shoes are too small we are the first to suffer.
The other parts of the body would sometimes tease me, and sometimes it would hurt my feelings. Look at me, the hair would say, see how lovely and golden I am? See my beautiful curls? I don’t see how you can stand being down in the dirt all day instead of bouncing around up here in the fresh air like I do.
Or the hands would tell me how important they were. Consider just how much we do for Caroline, they would say. We feed her, we brush her hair, we write lovely letters, we hold her telephone, we wash her – in fact, we even wash YOU, even though it’s really disgusting sometimes. She just couldn’t get along without us.
Mostly I just kept my hurt feelings to myself. But I guess I got used to thinking of myself as “just a toe”.
One day Caroline decided to study dancing. Great, I thought, even more work. For several hours a week I’d get strapped into extremely thin shoes while she jumped about and tried to keep me pointed. Sometimes I’d miss a step and the behind would yell at me – hey! watch it! Can’t you do any better than that? Now I’m all bruised and it’s all your fault!
Caroline kept up the dancing practice, and after many years she became quite a famous ballet dancer. The ribbing from other parts of the body continued.
“Look at how graceful I am,” the neck would say, and
“See how expressive we are,” the hands would add, and
“See how strong we are,” the legs would reply.
It seemed that every other part of Caroline’s body was proud, and justly so, of how beautiful they were, and how big a role they played in making her such a lovely ballerina.
One day Caroline was looking at a new photograph she had just had taken for a poster advertising a new ballet she was starring in. I, along with all the other parts of the body, admired just how beautiful it was.
Her head was held high, with her golden hair piled above her graceful neck. Her arms were poised, with her lovely hands looking so delicate. Her slender waist made her costume look so pretty. Her right leg was raised, with her right toes perfectly pointed inside her ballet slipper. Her left leg was strong and straight. Then I looked down and saw her left shoe. I wasn’t even visible! What use was I to this body anyway?
Then it hit me: I was supporting the entire body! In this picture everything was depending on me! If I weren’t so strong and so perfectly poised, the whole body would come crashing down!
That was the day my whole life changed. That was the day that I realized I truly am an important part of this body. Why, without me Caroline wouldn’t even be able to walk properly, let alone dance! I may not be a beautiful, or even a visible, part of her body, but I do my part just like everyone else.
It doesn’t matter to me anymore if I get all the attention or praise I used to want. The important thing is: I know I’m important. I’m a vital part of this body.
I may be just an ugly old toe, but together we are beautiful.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
I Cor. 12:12-31
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body.
Rom. 12:4-5
The ACF Midweek Meditations
are written by a diverse group of our church members with the intention to seek God’s fingerprints in our lives. They range from somber to humorous and are inspired by all facets of live and faith. Written by ordinary people from all walks of life, they reflect a wide range of Christian backgrounds and spiritualities.
Each week’s text portrays the individual viewpoint of its author. They might not always resonate with everyone, and are not meant to be understood as representing the Anglican Church Freiburg as a whole. Yet, as a church that is aiming to ‘Build a Community of Grace’ we seek to practice learning from and listening to one another.
We pray that these humble ponderings add a small spark of blessing to your week.
Freiburg Anglican Church 