"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free-- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." -- 1 Corinthians 12-13

Life does not occur in a vacuum.  We live interconnected and intimately woven with all the people around us.  Consider the simplest of things--  I can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich only because wheat farmers grew wheat, peanut farmers grew peanuts, and vintners grew grapes.  Additionally, bread makers had to make bread, peanut butter makers had to make peanut butter, and jelly makers made jelly.  Then they had to be packed and labeled, transported, and placed on the shelf to sell.  I counted on the manufacturer of my car to get me to the store, the roads to drive on, the store itself and its employees to run it before I could trade my cash for it.  But I had to work to earn that with which to buy it.  So it took the community I work for hiring me in order for that to happen as well, which required my teachers and parents to educate me and send me to school in order to learn what I know in order to do what I do... and they were all dependent on the people who did what they did to allow them to get where they were in order to teach, influence, and prepare me...

Do you see how even the simplest of things don't just "happen"?  When speaking of the body of Christ, it takes all of us working in the same direction toward the same end to make change happen in this world in the name of Jesus Christ.  You are a vital part of it.  Use your gifts faithfully today and every day.  By doing what seems so simple to you, may just be saving someone else's life.

Readings:  Esther 4:1-7:10; 1 Corinthians 12:1-26; Psalm 36:1-12; Proverbs 21:21-22