Lesson from My Little Toe

Spring is here and the sandals are out of the closet!! Yes!! Freedom for the feet! Bright-orange polish and pumiced heels are the order of the day! You might need to know that I love flip-flops and wear them every chance I can. (My favorites are Crocs!) Branching out, though, a friend and I went to PayLess and I bought some “fancy” patent leather, heeled “flip-flops” to wear with nicer clothes. The first time I wore these “fancy flip-flops”, I was teaching Romans 12 at a women’s luncheon. Right in the middle of the lesson, I looked down only to discover that I had neglected to paint my little toe nail!!! For some reason, I felt the need to “confess” this to the whole group who in unison leaned over, trying to catch a glimpse of this bare little toe.


Now, I had a dilemma. I had to somehow turn the focus back to Romans 12 but with this glaring little toe, the task was going to be daunting. Miraculously, the next words I read were: 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 who are many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others! (vs.4-5) I continued by saying, “Even the little toe is important!” and spoke about its function in balance and how when it hurts the whole body hurts. Whew! What a save, but after I got home I continued to think about what I had said. God began to reveal the many times I had forgotten the “little toes” in my life until I noticed a lack “of polish” …or of balance … when the tables hadn’t been set up for the event…when the ladies bathrooms were not clean…when the church yard had not been cut! And I can go on. These things I had just taken for granted would be done. I remembered how I felt when my kids thought clean underwear that “just appeared” in their drawers. No, somebody did these things behind the scenes even if I didn’t know who. I was convicted and resolved to keep the whole body in mind especially the parts I didn’t always see. I resolved to always make sure they were sought out and thanked for a job well done.


Some of you might think you are nothing in the kingdom because you are in the background. But you know what? God created our physical bodies with a little toe for a purpose and He has a purpose for the little toes in the Body of Christ. You are the ones with the servant’s heart. You are the ones who quietly do what God tells you without a lot of hoopla. When we read this short chapter of Romans, we find Paul admonishing the church in Rome to “not think more highly of themselves than they ought, “to honor one another,” “to not be proud” and, “to not be conceited!” Perhaps this church had forgotten all about their “little toes.” Maybe our churches have, too. Has our focus been so much on the people who are out front (the mouth!) that we have dishonored those who keep the balance? If you are a little toe and sometimes feel ignored, be of good cheer! God knows your works and His blessings are upon you…


And as for me…well, you are welcomed to look at my sandaled feet! Proudly, my little toe nail is as orange as the rest! It has a new place of importance and, dear one, so do you!!!