I never knew how much I used my legs until one of them was unusable. I didn’t fully appreciate the function of my foot until I couldn’t let it be used for the purpose for which it was created. My toes don’t help me balance as well and my knee doesn’t bend like it did before. Now you may be asking what is wrong with my leg, foot, toes, and knee. The answer is…nothing.
You see, all those parts are in working order. The problem is my ankle. I was walking out the door to work. There was ice under the door mat and when I stepped on it, I went sliding and my ankle twisted as I landed upon it. This set off a serious of unplanned events: a road trip to the emergency room, having my injured ankle ran into a chair by the X-ray tech driving my wheel chair, a set of painful X-rays, and finally a diagnosis of a broken ankle.
For goodness sakes, I had never even given a thought to the fact that I had tendons in my body till one was torn. I still confuse the tibia and fibula but all that really matters to me is that it hurts. From this experience, I have come to learn firsthand that when one part hurts, the others cannot live up to their potential, and 1 Corinthians 12 suddenly becomes personal,
The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”
When one part is hurt, the other parts are affected. Arms, legs, toes, fingers, elbows, ears…we don’t give them much thought until they hurt or are not able to be used in the way that most people are able to use them. During this time of physical brokenness, my ankle is getting more attention than it has ever gotten before. It is being protected and nurtured.
We humans can experience another type of brokenness. One that is not visible even with an X-ray. When our heart is broken everything else is hindered. When our feelings are hurt, the focus is shifted toward our loss of pride. A broken ankle is no walk in the park (literally) but it is nothing compared to emotional pain. So why are we so careless with the words we use with our spouse or future spouse? Just as we avoid injury to our own physical body whenever possible, shouldn’t we avoid injuring the one we love?
We can’t protect each other from everything but we can protect the other from ourselves. We can watch our words and avoid carelessly and unfairly criticizing them.
If the two truly become one in marriage, one cannot fully function when the other is hurting or broken. Half of the being does not go untouched when their spouse is experiencing brokenness. This world will throw more than enough hurt at us. Let’s not add to our beloved’s trials by speaking carelessly.
FEATURED CONTRIBUTOR:
Heather M. Bissett is a foster care and adoption caseworker from a small town in Ohio. She earned her bachelors in Family and Consumer Sciences at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. She enjoys spending time with her wonderful husband, Jacob, family and friends. She also treasures her time working in the media department and leading drama ministries at her church. Heather is passionate about helping others, working with children, teens and adults, and sipping Coke Zero as often as possible. Visit Heather on Facebook or Twitter.
