Operation Amputation

I was writing an essay today, and after way too many minutes of painstaking word-crafting, paragraph 4 read like this...

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Trustworthy: "Never, even for a moment, forgetting how valuable and vulnerable __________ is, and always treating him/her like that." Though I often fall short of meeting this standard, this is the touchstone by which I strive to measure the quality of my interaction with people. This means that at times, I must surrender what I perceive to be my personal rights, out of respect for the community. I choose to take responsibility for my choices, live above reproach, and respect authority. Above all, I choose to live as a grace-dispenser in a world that is thirsty for generous grace. . Great. Got it. Awesome. But what does that mean when the people you love are making disastrous choices and it’s all you can do to keep yourself from throttling their sorry necks? Or when a hurting friend makes hurtful choices out of the hurt they have experienced, and your first instinct is to justify the pain they inflict on others because of their personal woundedness? What then? . My roommate has been hacking up a lung for days. For several minutes each day, she retreats to her cloister - a tea towel tent over a bowl of steaming water - and serenades us all with the staccato notes of her phlegmy song. After fighting the nasty bugger for a week, she traipsed over to the doctor to get a prescription for antibiotics. Brand new and experimental, these antibiotics really get to the root of the problem by eliminating the source. The lungs. Voila! Problem solved. . Or not. “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole Body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” . 1. Protect the injured/infected Part. 2. Attack the infection, not the Infected. 3. If you’ve gotta do surgery, cut deep and get the whole darn life-sucking malignancy out at once. 4. Never be ashamed of the scars. They are the memories of battles, whether lost or won. .

Didn't know the hacking was inspiring, did'ja? Get well soon, Chrissy. And if you can help it, don't pass it on to me.

. Quote by: Greg Smalley and Robert S. Paul, The DNA of Relationships for Couples (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 2006). See also http://www.smalleyonline.com/