A trip to the dentist reveals the truth. It's time to face the pain, but there is one problem. Is the pain actual or is George holding onto his hurt out of habit and routine?
The Doctor's results are in...
Children go through pain while cutting teeth. Through this process we have given George Ibuprofen when he tells us his teeth hurt. The arrival of new teeth has many symptoms and warning signs such as low grade fever, crankiness, clinginess, drooling, runny nose, lack of sleep, etc. But as of late, George has been acting like a normal two year old. Bed time comes rolling around and the fingers go in the mouth and we hear "Hurt, Hurt!"
We take George to Dermody Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. Dermody is always very nice and helpful. We tell the doc we are not sure if our son is having actual tooth pain or just in a routine of getting medicine. Results are.... all of George's baby teeth are in and looking good!
Does our son have a hold on hurt from the past? It's possible he could have an ear ache. But unlikely. The past few times George has asked for Ibuprofen we have given him a placebo of fruit juice in his Rx cup. His pain seems to disappear and all is well for the land of sleepy time.
What about our pain and hurt from the past? Do we cling to it even after it's gone? Our pain has the tendency to draw attention to us. Sadly, attention is what some of us are after... kind of like my two year old.
I have held onto pain for many of reasons. I have liked the attention it has gotten me. Denial of my pain has caused it to linger. Refusal to allow my heart to heal out of resentment of the inflicter has been a factor. But mainly I have chalked most of my held hurt up to being a mental/emotional pain freak.
He
came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the
Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was
handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found
the place where it was written,
God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!" He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."
God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!" He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."
Christ came to set us free! Too many of us let our pain linger beyond the point of our healing. I remember a time I was sick. Having called out of work, my wife was nursing me. Surely taking full advantage of the attention I was getting. Some call this a "Man Cold" because when a man has it, no one has ever been sicker! I recall God speaking right to my heart that day; "George, you want to be sick." Talk about penetrating words! Christ had preached, pardoned, recovered, and set me free. Still I lingered.
Like my son, we can tend to cling to the pains and hurts of life intentionally or unintentionally. What do we do when the Great Physician says we no longer have reason to hurt? Do we allow our hearts to be healed or do we continue to cry "Hurt, Hurt!" I no longer want to cling, do you?
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