The effervescent blonde dental hygienist tugged on the dentist chair’s overhead light. The same dentist chair where I currently and tensely reclined. My present interment was for a semi-annual cleaning and inspection of my teeth.
Now, dentist chairs have always made me uncomfortable. They remind me of the torture devices in Star Wars. And my personal history has taught me they can dispense pain equal to any past (or future) torment device. Unfortunately, my experiences with dentists have not always been champagne and roses.
Once she had the light focused right square in my eyes, the smiling hygienist ratcheted up the bubbly on her personality and, with a huge smile, said, “Open wide!” She held what looked to be a gleaming needle-pointed dental probe that appeared to be the size of a gaff hook.
I resigned myself to my fate and, for the next thirty minutes, had every tooth in my mouth poked, prodded, scrubbed, brushed, and flossed. Ultimately, I never felt that horrible piercing pain that only a tooth can bestow. My teeth were in good shape.
That wasn’t always the case. When I was younger, I let the maintenance on my teeth lapse. Oh, I would brush every day, but I let trips to the dentist fall entirely off my to-do list for about a decade. The result was inevitable. Decay attacked the enamel of my teeth, and cavities began to torment me. When, out of painful necessity, I returned to a dentist’s care, I lost some teeth they couldn’t repair. I learned my lesson the hard way.
Sin can and does attack me in exactly the same way. The moment I let the maintenance of my relationship with Jesus lapse, evil creeps in to decay and destroy. And yes, I’ve had to suffer that admonishment and learn that lesson too. The simple education for me is that prayer, fellowship with our Lord, and studying His Word are as essential to my relationship with God as proper dental hygiene is to my teeth.
Are there cavities in your relationship with God? Could your soul use a good flossing? Then cling to God and His Word ... with all your heart and all that you are.
(photo courtesy of pixabay.com.)
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Kevin Spencer likes to play with words, help others play with them, and is privileged to be a staff writer for Christian Devotions. He lives with his beautiful blessing of a wife, Charlotte, and his amazing collegiate grandson, Caleb.