A cell

In my devotion time this morning the author mentioned finding a place apart, a cell, for prayer time. A place where the mind could fall into the heart, is what sticks in my mind. At first I was thinking of a prison cell, a place of isolation, loneliness, and shame. I ate my breakfast and went out to begin moving our snow from last night and pondered what I had studied this morning. I think a cell better fits the image of a cell in my body, more like a cell in the body of Christ. Now remember I am an old dairy farmer here so pens as cells and cells as part of the body are images that my mind can wrap itself around.
The image of the Body of Christ being cells is new to me. I think of legs, feet, arms, eyes exc... but I haven't thought of the Body as a group of cells. Each cell responsible for its part in the body, the body incomplete with out each cell, each cell separate from yet closely linked to all the other cells in the body. Think about how many different kinds of cells there are in the body. Consider how viruses or bacteria affect the body. Think about how cancer affects the individual cells and the body. Think about how an individual cell, a group of cells and the whole body react to an injury. It re-frames my thoughts of the Body of Christ. It also makes visible to me how we don't behave as a body.
On a more personal note, thinking about the idea of a cell as a separate place for prayer, I see how weak my prayer life has become and my need to be called away, separate from the world. Yet I also see myself connected to those who are praying. Wow.