Get our teeth cleaned or throw out everything good with the bathwater?
Sometimes the bad things that happen to us (1) have a more straightforward solution than we realize, or (2) there is a silver lining of hope surprisingly close.
For example, that time I came back after three months in India and Nepal, my FRONT (!) teeth had a growing blackness to them. “Oh my goodness,” I thought. “I am rotting from the inside out!”
“Tea stains,” said the dentist.
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
I did have a profound appreciation for Chai tea.
And so sometimes things aren’t as bad as we think.
Another time, I suddenly developed tooth sensitivity. My dentist had been warning me, asking me, “Do you feel sensitive yet in that particular area?” He told me I had root recession and that I would start feeling sensitive soon.
“There it is,” I thought that day. I didn’t bother going to the dentist because I knew this was coming. I thought, “Well, I guess I’ll have to suffer with this until I die!” I drank hot and cold drinks, and then most foods on one side of my mouth. When I finally went to the dentist months later, he said, “Oh wow, your filling fell out!”
He even repaired it for free because, I guess, it shouldn’t usually happen.
This filling was the best gift I ever got. A free filling! Well, the free filling wasn’t the gift.
The gift was a new lease on life.
I didn’t have to suffer for the rest of my life just because I was suffering a little now.
Older age wasn’t necessarily a slow march through increasing pain and suffering until we fall off the cliff.
We may need a new filling! Or we need the tea stains cleaned off our teeth! How can I not assume that my body is running towards hell and taking me with it as I get older?
What new aches and pains must be accepted, and which ones must be fought (or repaired or cleaned?)1
We may need to get our teeth cleaned or have a new filling placed. Or perhaps God will reach out his hand to heal, as many thousands have attested. But if the pain must be accepted, there’s always a hidden redemption in the pain if we know where to look.
That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
The Message
As the song below sings “This is the refreshing”, consider asking God, Where have I allowed despair to cloud my judgment? Do I need to get my teeth cleaned, or find an alternative solution to this seemingly oversized or insoluble problem? How do You see this challenge that I am facing from Your heavenly perspective?
Will you give me the strength to weather the storm, Jesus?
(His answer is always yes.)
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
The Message
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
Photo Credit – Guy Choosing Easier Way Out Of His Problems by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
1 As a not-unrelated aside, Canada has got it wrong with its steep descent into killing each other as the new, favorite way out of the pain.
Restoring Life 