Holes, The Body, and Grace

Have you ever broken, sprained or otherwise incapacitated a part of yourself?

I am currently in round 2 of "Sprain of the LCL", and I have to tell you that the timing couldn't be worse. School is less than a week away. School Open Houses/Meet the Teacher are going on now. Tomatoes need to made into either salsa or sauce. Then there's the normal run-of-the-mill day-to-day stuff like: laundry, tidying, meals, toys, etc...

My superman husband deserves the "Husband of the Year" award!! He has been doing laundry, helping the kids, making meals, AND all the little errands too. :) Even when he had to go on a work trip, he found a place for the kids and got them ready. :) (Grandparents are amazing!)

So, here I sit... on my keister. There's only so much you can do. I've read an entire book, updated this blog, filed papers, dealt with insurance EOBs, looked up great sites for writers, dug around on Pintrest, changed a few diapers, played Super Mario Bros (at the request of my children), watched a movie or two... :) but I'm really MISSING the simple act of walking unassisted. Unlike last Friday, I now can hobble around the house using one crutch. It's getting better slowly but surely... but it's so easy to overdo it.

Missing the function of a part of the body... hmmm. I felt that in ministry.

Holes. When people don't use their gifts and function in their God-given role, a hole is created and felt by the rest of the Body. Overcompensation occurs when others try to make up for the lack but end up overdoing it and burning out.

It's a hard place to be as a fellow Body part, but even more so as a functional leader. The one thing I learned in my short foray into this thing called ministry is that even though it's not pretty, holes must be felt or no one sees the needs. If I simply cover and compensate for the missing gift, I end up expanding my role without meaning to and the rest of the Body believes everything is well in hand. Not to mention that I deprive someone else of the joy of serving. Bad plan. Trust me.

Perfection is not ministry. Ministry is people and people are not perfect. We must strive for excellence but that is not our idol - our "gotta look like or else" goal. We are first and foremost the Body of Christ. We must function as such. Grace and Truth work together and find balance. When in doubt, err on grace - you'll be glad you did. And - while you work within the Body, you'll need a lot of it!

As for my body? It's healing slowly and returning to it's previous strength, but what about The Body?

Are there holes in your local Body?
Are you a part of your local Body?
Do you think that everything runs so smoothly they don't need you?

Betcha if you ask - they'll tell you all the holes that you could possibly fill. :)

I dare ya! Go fill a hole! You'll be glad you did. :)