A few days ago I diagnosed myself with lateral epicondylitis in my right arm. That’s “tennis elbow” for you lay persons who do not have a self-diagnosis certification from WebMD like me. I have been feeling the weakness and pain in the outer part of my elbow and forearm muscles and tendons for several weeks now. Lifting things, even light things, which require curling my arm has become acutely painful. This has limited my guitar playing, because strumming requires a bending motion in my right arm. I am afraid that if this keeps up, my guitar skills will diminish from my current level of mediocre to unnerving. Just the same, I must carry on with life. We all must get up and get at it. As Churchill said, “Most of the world’s work is done by people who don’t feel very well.”
Tennis elbow has also inconvenienced me in one of my other favorite activities, lifting heavy stuff at the gym, at which I am little better than playing guitar, but it keeps the heart rate up and the middle age spread (somewhat) in check. My bicep day has gone south, but, surprisingly, my other lift days have not been much affected. I work through my delt, tricep, chest, leg, back and core routines just fine. There is that one part of my body that is weak and limiting. It is frustrating. Still, I quite appreciate my right arm, even in its weakened state. I can still lift a tall glass of iced tea to my lips. One of the simple joys in life.
The Apostle Paul had some encouraging words to say about body parts that are not functioning as well as others. Speaking about members of Christ’s Church, he wrote:
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ… 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, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other (1 Cor. 2:12,21-25).
There has always been a prideful tendency of some people in the Church to see themselves as morally and spiritually superior to others, because they have some special talent that makes them stand out or some skill that qualifies them for a position of power in the Church. Paul squashed the validity of such pride in his letter to the Corinthians. We all need each other in the Church. Our Christian denominations’ numbers are dwindling in this contemporary culture of unbelief. The Church has not helped itself much by its persistent infighting, majoring in minors, and emphasis on moral legalism rather than spiritual freedom and empowerment in Christ.
Embrace and celebrate the strong ones and the weak ones in your Church. We all need each other as we work to see glimpses of the kingdom of God appear in our world.
My doctor buddies at WebMD tell me to give the arm a rest for six weeks, and all should be well. In the meantime, I will not judge you, lest you judge me, as I ease up at the gym. I may even pick up a harmonica and play it left handed on the living room couch for the next month or so, while my strumming arm heals. Apologies to my wife and daughter in advance.
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