The Savior suffered an eternity's worth on account of Rick's bitter heart, but he loved him an eternity's worth in return. How is it possible? Rick wondered. How is it done?
"He is one with you, Ricky, that is the answer you seek."
"How is that the answer?"
Grandpa Carson now turned to look at him once more.
"When you tore your rotator cuff in college, Ricky, did you afterwards abuse your shoulder? By that I mean, did you get angry at it and treat it roughly?"
"Of course not."
"Why not? It was causing you pain."
"Because it was my own shoulder. What good would it do to hurt it further? I'd only be hurting myself."
And then it dawned on him what his grandfather meant.
We are one with our bodies, and for that reason, we don't react to a pain in a member of the body by inflicting that member with more pain. On the contrary, we dress it, and succor it, and nurse it back to health. If anything, we love most those parts of us that bring us the most pain. For they need us the most, and we, them.
"It is as if we are parts-" Rick whispered.
"Of the body of Christ," his grandfather said, completing the thought.
The Peacegiver by James L. Ferrell. 2004. p.181
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