I knocked my two front teeth out when I was ten.
It’s quite a talent to be able to fall over the handlebars whilst cycling up a hill. They were plucked off the concrete, plopped into a cup of milk – and off to the hospital we went. My last fifteen years have seen lisp-inducing block-braces, sparkly train-tracks, headgear (yup – that attractive metal contraption that fits around your head), needles, root treatment, caps, veneers and hours in the dentist chair. And now? My tired two front teeth have given up. Behind the white veneers, they are greying and painful. Dead.
Last week I heard the words I’d been dreading. The dentist took one close look and uttered: “They need to come out”. This is the stuff of my nightmares. Forget the hours and the pennies spent trying to keep the darned things in my mouth, I was now being told that I was going to have to undergo 7 months of extensive (and eye-wateringly expensive) dentistry to get them out.
And I’m torn. I realise I don’t have any choice in the matter, but you may be shocked to hear that only part of me wants to see the back of this long and drawn out tooth saga. Only part of me wants shiny new teeth in place of dead ones. The other part of me wants to keep these dead, painful teeth just where they are. I don’t want to face the surgery, I don’t want to deal with the bills, the injections and the drills. Denial is an attractive prospect.
So it got me thinking.
Forget about my teeth – what about our lives?
What areas of your life do you hide behind white veneers, closed doors, explanations, and masks? “I’m okay, it’s healthy, it isn’t a problem” or that old chestnut “It’s just the way I am”. Years of pain and trying have led to nothing but exhaustion. Hiding, concealing, pretending – it’s tiring. It’s relentless.
You know your God stands before you with open hands, ushering you to open up, to hand over, to stop trying. It’s attractive, very attractive. BUT…you are torn. Denial is whispering to you, wanting to take stay in your place of familiarity. How can something be so dangerous and yet seem so comfortable? What would it mean to live without this secret, this addiction, this lie? Who would you be? What would you do? Where would you turn?
Some of these issues we can simply 'let go' of. However it can be the deeper, bigger, engrained areas you also may need to invest time and energy into - and you know it's going to be a rocky road. We know that as soon as we let God (and others) in on - it is going to be the start of a process. Like all the hours of the dentist chair I have ahead of me.
It's going to be costly, it's going to hurt.
But the reward is far greater.
I will no longer be hiding the yuck behind fake veneers.
Freedom is our inheritence, there for the taking. Our God is in the business of redemption and restoration. He works with us - powerfully but gently. He is not a God of botch jobs, He is not a cowboy builder. He is a counsellor who does all things well, and he brings all things to completion. But...
We need to take the jump.
And if you don't feel you can - ask God for a change of heart. Pray for confidence in letting go, ask for perseverance in the process. Ask for a vision of the end goal - a taste of freedom. Find someone who can draw along side you, someone who can encourage and inspire you to keep going, to keep letting go.
So jump with me, let's be an army of people who aren't afraid to face things in the light of a powerful, loving, providing God. Let's stand beside one another in the process of change -cheering each other on.
And you know what? You will become more you than you have ever been before.
And in being more you, you will reflect more of God
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:19
‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10
‘‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’. 1 PETER 5:7
Anna Mathur