Little Things Mean A Lot

All pain is not gain. The sum is a total of the parts. A truth brought home to you when you suffer from something as innocuous as a stubbed toe. The pain almost unbearable for a while. You shrug it off with ‘it’s only my toe’. How naive can one get.

That’s when you realise how vital that tiny appendage is to your physical well-being. A part of your body you’ve never really given much thought to.

As soon as the throbbing subsides, you delude yourself into thinking that it’s going to be all right.

But you’re only being lulled into a false sense of security. As you get up the next morning, you start your day feeling this burst of energy. And leap out of bed. Only to land on that left foot, the one with the stubbed toe. And discover that your foot is a mass of nerve endings. For some seconds which seem like minutes the pain blots out the brightness of the new day.

You are convinced that you will never walk again. Imagine yourself on crutches for the rest of your life. As soon as the throbbing subsides to tolerable levels, you test the waters so to speak. Place that foot down ever so slowly. Learn to walk again.

For the next hour or so you limp from room to room. Maybe even exaggerate the movement. Waiting for sympathy. Only to be greeted with: “Good grief, you’ve done it again. How do you manage to bump into everything?”

You hobble away to lick your wounds in silence. But each step is agony. And you can’t help the sounds that escape.

Five days later the toe is still sore. Never have you been so careful while slipping into a pair of shoes. Aware with every breath that you take of the way your toe has taken over your life. And then there’s the cut on the finger. You have no idea how it got there. Suddenly it announces its smarting presence.

That’s when you find out how dependent the remaining four fingers are on this little one. Simple tasks not so simple after all. Every little thing you do seeming to need the co-operation of that finger which makes you stop and think. Of how even the tiniest part of your body deserves the deepest respect.

Toothaches. Just one of those little things nestled in your mouth can bring you to your knees. Make you feel like death warmed over. This itty bitty piece able to spread agony faster than you can ‘smile’, causing earaches, jawaches, headaches, all the aches you can think of.

The only thing that makes you bear this for as long as you can is the dreaded thought of a visit to the dentist.

Until you can’t take it anymore and almost beg for relief. Ready to admit defeat and submit yourself to the ordeal at the dentist. All these niggling experiences making you appreciate the Maker of things both big and small.