Spare Parts

During a discussion with someone who is having problems with their gall bladder and might be looking at surgery, I assured her that it’s a common operation and nothing to worry about. That almost everyone has gallstones, according to my doctor, and they don’t cause problems unless they block a bile duct. Then there is pain and nausea and surgery may be required to relieve the problem. In reading further about it, I found out, according to the experts, that the gall bladder sits under the liver and is full of bile right before we eat. It then shoots the bile into the small intestine, which then helps in digestion. According to WebMD, “Bile helps digest fats, but the gallbladder itself is not essential. Removing the gallbladder causes no observable problems with health or digestion.”

Which makes me think about all the other extra parts we have such as the spleen, appendix, tonsils, etc. We can even survive with only one kidney. But, if these parts are extra and we can live without them, why are they there? What purpose do they serve other than to eventually go bad and have to be removed by surgeons who then garner a big fee and that helps pay for their yachts and country estates? Did God really create us with unnecessary parts?

I don’t think He did. I think He created us to have the parts with which we were born. The complete package. But He knows us. He knows that through improper diet, too much stress, accidents and a myriad of other things, these parts could go bad. So He made our bodies to adjust to work without them. That way a simple thing like a gallstone blocking a bile duct can be fixed by removing the gall bladder and our bodies will adjust to life without the gall bladder.

My cousin’s husband, who is close to my dad’s age (if my dad were still alive), has had so many surgeries to remove things throughout his life (kidney, spleen, gall bladder, appendix, etc.) that he says the next surgery he has, they are going to have to put something back in. I guess you can say he is out of spare parts. Funny, you would think that with all the empty space inside of him, he would rattle more when he walks. I guess God thought of that and made it so that we can be empty of spare parts and walk silently as well. God thinks of every contingency.