Stitches

I love to cook. 

This past March I went down to Farmington to visit with my grandparents for a week when I had some vacation time. So, naturally, I wanted to cook for them the entire time I was down there. 

One evening, I was fighting with some sweet potatoes that did not want to be chopped. As I pressed down to cut one in half, my ring finger got caught under the blade....and proceeded to bleed profusely. 

Now, I've gotten sliced many times, but this time, my finger bled for about 45 minutes. No joke. I had to change the makeshift-folded paper towel bandaid about four times because the blood soaked through. This was no normal slice and dice. This was a hard core, trip to the doctor, stitch job.

However, I hate going to the doctor. I work in a hospital, why would I want to go there during my vacation? So I never went. I never got stitches. I slapped a bandaid (a real one) on there and called it good. 

But you know what? It didn't heal. 

Sure, it closed up on the surface, but it was still discolored and painful. I've seen enough lacerations to know when something isn't healed underneath, and this certainly wasn't. 

After 5 weeks, it still wasn't healed. I thought about taking a knife and reopening it and getting stitches, but decided that was too much trouble. And I'm a chicken - could I really slice myself on purpose??

So once again, I simply dealt with the pain. I ignored it. Hoping that if I did so, it would go away. 

About a week ago, I was working on something, and somehow I slammed that finger....you know what? 

It still isn't completely healed.

I realized that sometimes, the pain we deal with in our life is like this. We need stitches, we need healing. But instead we just put a bandaid on it and pretend that if we ignore it, it will go away. 

But months go by, you think you're okay, and something happens. You get slammed, and you realize that you're not even close to being healed. 

If only you would have gotten stitches, you could have healing in your life. 

Sometimes, we have to take the knife out, reopen the wound, clean it out and get some stitches. Sometimes, the healing process is more painful than the initial injury. 

However, having the feeling of ultimate closure - complete healing in your life - is so much better than ignoring the pain and putting it aside. 

So what are you covering up? What are you ignoring? 

Hurt? Guilt? Resentment? Anger? Bitterness? 

Trying to cover it up with a bandaid, that only works for a short time. 

God is the only one who can heal you from the inside out. 

"He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds."

~ Psalms 147:3