Have you ever tried to entertain a two-year-old on a three-hour car trip? It's a daunting task. At one point on the trip home today, Bella turned her attention to a very tiny red mark on her leg - a probably temporary scar from the last scraped knee incident. She whined that it was hurting and that she needed, as she calls it, a "boo-boo sticker".
My students ask for band-aids all the time for everything from a hang-nail to a cut so small I can barely see it. Often they want one just to put over an already well-formed scab that's protecting the skin just fine on its own, in my opinion. "But Mrs. Ellis, it hurts!"
I try to tell all of these kiddos that the band-aid will not make the pain go away. All a bandage does is to protect the skin while our bodies naturally go through a healing process. There is no pain relief in that little sticky strip.
It's not only children who have problems understanding this concept. I know many adults who are using all sorts of things to cover up hurt in their lives. I've done it myself. People use all manner of things - some destructive and sinful, others just futile and pathetic. We use drugs and alcohol, illicit relationships, excessive sleep, frivolous entertainment, the pursuit of money - name your poison. All these things are a cover-up to keep us from dealing with the root issue and allowing healing to come and just like the band-aid, there is no real relief from the pain.
We get so attached to our self-medicating that whatever we are using to mask the issue starts to bring us into bondage and now we not only have the original wound but we've created a new problem. We've figuratively dug ourselves a deeper hole.
So- what do we do with this cycle of hurt and denial? First, you have to bring it to Jesus. The Great Physician knows how to deliver healing to us. This kind of healing is a process, not an instantaneous action. Our spirits and souls take time to heal, just as our bodies do. It starts with a surrender to Him and continues through all the channels He uses to make us whole, healthy, and normal.
It starts with forgiveness - either by repentance for what you have done or by forgiving someone who has wounded you. It continues by finding out what the Word of God says about the way you should live. The words of the Bible are "life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh" (Proverbs 4:22) You stay in health by learning who you really are in Christ - how much you are loved, what amazing plans God has for you, where your place is in His body of believers where you can learn, grow and be accountable to others.
Bella's little childhood cuts and scrapes will all soon heal - band-aids or not, but the big issues in our lives will not clear up on their own. If you are holding an issue, plastering over it with whatever you can to avoid it, please rip off that band-aid and let Jesus bring lasting change and freedom to your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment