We need awesome, essential pinky toes to keep our balance.
We need hands that are virtually always doing something.
We need flashy white teeth to help eat and enjoy yummy treats.
We need super smart brains that are always planning and learning.
We need legs that actually get us going to different places.
We need elbows to remind us that even when we feel pain, it’s okay to still laugh and be funny.
We need every body part.
Some body parts are strange shapes.
Some get all dolled up with makeup.
Some body parts have hundreds of different uses. Some do the same thing with consistency.
My nose would be of no use to me if it wanted to walk like my feet. I prefer my nose to be really awesome at being a nose.
“Also the body hath need of every member, that all may be edified together, that the system may be kept perfect.” (D&C 84:110)
But right before that verse, a warning.
“Let every man stand in his own office, and labor in his own calling;
“and let not the head say unto the feet it hath no need of the feet; for without the feet how shall the body be able to stand?” (D&C 84:109)
The warning is to each of us and it is serious.
Do we, whatever part we may play, think that we have no need of someone who is different than us?
That we need to make friends with people who are super similar to us?
That if everyone were a little more like us, the church would be even better?
That is not true.
We need everyone. We need everyone exactly how they are right now.
Every strength. Every weakness. Every quirk. Every struggle. Every personality. Every background.
Not just to make a nice church cuz diversity is cool.
But to make a PERFECT church.
Perfect is often synonymous with “whole”, “complete”, or “mature”.
We aren’t broken if we differ from “the norm”.
We are needed exactly the way that we are in order to make a small part of a complete body.
We are needed to perform a function that only we can.
We are needed to edify each other in ways we don’t even realize.
We need everyone, and our biggest downfall will be if we start thinking we don’t.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
