Nail Polish

“The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!” Luke 12:48 [The Message Bible]

It may seem a long stretch from the story I’m about to tell you and the passage quoted above~

I get my nails done every two weeks. This has on occasion been the brunt of teasing, of raised eyebrows when I beg off something because I ‘get my nails done then’, and of people complimenting me on my nails, as if I were responsible for them. Little do they know that 10+ years ago my nails started to become weak and very soon were tearing on a regular basis. It took the skill of my beautician to restore them to usefulness. So for the last 8 years I have been fortunate enough to be able to avail myself of her expertise. So what’s the link, you might ask.?

It is simply because of the great gifts I have been given. I not only have someone with the necessary knowledge to repair the damage and keep it under control but also the money to keep them that way; both of these things are because of where I live and how my life has played out to this point. I am not living in that part of the globe where the bombs are falling or there is famine. I am not even trying to eke out a living on whatever the Old Age Pension might bring in. Making my hands useful depends on all of these gifts.

By living here in Canada, by having the wherewithal to look after my nails and keep my hands useful, I feel that I have the responsibility to use those hands in a myriad of ways for others. Whether it is putting together hygiene packs for the Outreach Van, sorting clothes for the clothing depot or writing this blog, those hands have a purpose.

If I thought those gifts were of my own making: living in Canada, financial security, access to other people's skill, then I would be able to go about doing whatever I pleased. But I don’t! Because I have been so fortunate compared to most of humanity around the globe, I need to use that good fortune to do whatever I can to alleviate some of their suffering. And using my hands is just a small part of that.

The verse above has the caveat that if we are unaware we are doing a poor job, then we will be let off lightly. However in this age of instant communication we can no longer plead that we ‘just didn’t know’ what was happening on the other side of the world, or even in our own backyards. Have you ever stopped to think what gifts you have been given and how you are using those gifts to benefit others? For us in the western world that can be a sobering thought. We have so much, all of it undeserved and we pass on so little of it.

As Karl Barth, who is often regarded as the greatest Protestant theologian of the twentieth century, said: “Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.”

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