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Swimming -- Body parts

Good Morning!  I'm hoping you're curious, so I won't delay.

Swimming requires all of my body parts...those visible and those not visible...it's a total body workout. 

Swimming requires all parts of me to work together to complete the strokes and propel me from start to finish of each lap I swim.  There is a specified movement or job for each part of me.  Some parts are seen and some are hidden, but all are needed.

Imagine my legs trying to do the work of my arms while I'm swimming the front crawl.  Hilarious, right?!  And disastrous too!  I would be standing up and gasping for air in very short order if I tried to swim legs first.  Not only is it impossible for legs to move in the same way as arms, but I'd be swimming backwards and blind.

The same is true in the body of Christ.  Christ's body, the church, is just like the body of a swimmer.  Each part has a specified purpose, is designed to function for that purpose, and placed in the exact right position in the body to fulfill that purpose!  Exciting stuff, right?!

So why is it so easy to see the futility of swimming with my brain trying to breathe and my arms trying to see, but so hard to see my own unique and important role in the body of Christ?

It seems like a no brainer and yet it's way too easy to second guess God.  I look at someone else and think I could do what they do better than they do.  Or, I feel awkward doing my part and decide I'm useless and of little value to the body. 
 
Both of these are dangerous mindsets and hurt the body!!!  One causes me to try to do what someone else was created to do.  The other presses me to shut down and quit doing anything at all.

In Ephesians 2:10 we're told "we are of God's making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do."

And 1st Corinthians 12:18 reminds us that "God arranged each of the parts in the body exactly as He wanted them."

LORD, pride invites me to think I'm more important than others or tempts me to think You made a mistake when You made me, where You put me, or in what You prepared me to do.  I invite You to stretch me, grow me, and train me to be a strong and courageous daughter who delights in serving You alongside all the other parts of Your body...Your church!  Thank You!!! Amen.

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