It's OK Not to Be a Foot

Monica Portogallo shares a timely reminder that God didn't design us to do it all.

As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.

Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended.

If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” (1 Corinthians 12: 12, 14-21)

I’ve always loved this passage from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. The idea that we all have a place in the Body of Christ, no matter how important or unimportant we imagine ourselves to be, really speaks to me. I try to keep this passage in the back of my mind as I interact with others, whether I feel insignificant or am starting to get a little too big for my britches. Until recently, though, I never thought of applying it to the pressure I put on myself.

Like a lot of moms, I often fall into the trap of thinking that I am supposed to do it all. I should be able to keep an immaculate home, cook delicious meals from scratch daily, limit screen time without micromanaging my kids’ time, make sure my kids are supervised at all times but still allowed to play freely, discipline the kids without yelling or time-outs, write personalized Christmas cards by hand for 75 friends and relatives, volunteer at every school or church fundraiser … you get the idea. Of course, I know it’s not humanly possible for anyone to do it all. Still, I am like an eye saying to myself, “Seeing is not enough. You should be able to smell and hear and walk as well!”

For me, I think this notion comes from a variety of sources: my desire to do good and be helpful, my comparisons to friends who seem to have perfect, put-together lives, my pride telling me I can do more than the average person, my tendency to take responsibility for things that are not actually my responsibility, and my longing to have talents that God didn’t give me. Where it does not come from, though, is God.

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Like a lot of moms, I often fall into the trap of thinking that I am supposed to do it all. #CatholicMom

God intended for us to be interdependent. We each have a role to play in His Kingdom, and we should not expect ourselves to do everything any more than we should expect our ears to pump blood. We simply weren’t designed for that.

This time of year, the pressure to do it all can be amplified. If you’re feeling it too, please join me as I say to myself, “I can only do so much. I’m an eye, not a foot, and it’s okay not to be a foot. Someone else will be a foot.”

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