...but of many

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (ESV)

A vaccine for polio was not discovered until 1955. Wilma was born in 1940, and contracted polio when she was a young child.  Her left leg became paralyzed, and she had to use crutches as well as wear a brace in order to get around.  Initially, doctors told her mother she might never walk again.

But her mother believed her daughter had a different destiny, and so did Wilma’s twenty-one brothers and sisters.  Together they took turns taking Wilma to doctor’s appointments and massaging her crippled leg. They told her she wouldn’t always be dependent upon her brace and her crutches.  They were her champions.

After years of hard work on the part of EVERYONE in the family, Wilma Rudolph left her brace behind and went on to compete in the 1956 Summer Olympics.  In Rome, Italy, 1960, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field in the course of the Olympic Games!

“No matter what accomplishments you make,” she said, “somebody helps you.”

I found a thumbnail sketch of Wilma Rudolph’s story in a book titled Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. (c2016 Timbuktu Labs, Inc.) This is my thumbnail of their thumbnail. (Plus a little research on the internet.)

Rebel girls… I suppose. If we are rebelling against WHAT IS, as opposed to how things COULD BE. Rebel girls and rebel boys in a cosmic race to bring relief to the lame, the blind, and the deaf; the prisoner, the outcast and the poor; the widow and the orphan.

We are rebel brothers and sisters, urging each other to get up and run the race!  No one of us a superstar, yet each one a champion.  A family of champions.

Wilma’s brothers and sisters must have each had their moments when they felt neglected; care for Wilma superseding their own needs or desires.  Maybe some of them even had to struggle against jealousy.  But the story didn’t end in a brawl.  Their story ended in victory. They triumphed as a family.

Our family, the Church - not just one denomination, tribe, tongue or nation - will triumph as we champion each other for Christ.  Let’s urge each other on, helping our brothers and sisters accomplish those things for which God called them.  For we do not  consist of one superstar member, but of many!

Beverly