Quick Summary:

It fell to me, this past week, to take my five year old to her doctor for her well child visit. She was measured and weighed, her eyes were checked, her heart and lungs listened to; her blood pressure taken. Everything’s working just as it should in my girl, the individual parts of her body are working together as designed, as a system, interdependently, seamlessly, marvelously.

Those of us who have a few years on her know that it will not always be so. We know that our bodies—ourselves—are not designed to last forever; that systems will eventually break down, and incidents from the past will return to haunt us. We all come into this world with an expiration date. As if we needed more evidence of that, we lost two more seniors last week. At 90+, both Betty’s and Gladys’ bodies finally said, “Enough.”

That such a time will come for all of us is a reality we know very well, even if we try our best to keep it at bay. But for now, by the grace of God, we are here. And the question is, how then will we live? How will we relate to the other individuals, the other bodies, who inhabit our world? How will we carry ourselves?

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, has an answer.