Nancy and I were munching on some popcorn the other night when she said, "OW!" She felt around in her mouth and looked in the mirror to see if she chipped a tooth but couldn't really tell. It wasn't until the next morning when she tried to eat that she realized something was really wrong.
At the dentist she showed him which tooth hurt. He tapped it, scraped it and blew cold air on it. Nothing. She said, "I know it hurt earlier. It had to be that one... or maybe this one." When she tapped the second tooth, it moved and she winced.
The problem with nerve pain is it can radiate. The pain spreads out into areas not really damaged. You can't tell where the real wounding is.
This can be true with emotional wounding as well. It's why we come home, after a bad day at work, yell at our wife and kick the dog. They aren't the ones who made us mad, it's just our anger didn't have an outlet at the office.
It can be why we make decisions that are self destructive. Why the cycle of abuse continues. It's why a spouse would return to the abuser.
From the outside it's bewildering. Why would an normally intelligent person, be so out of control of certain areas of his or her life? It's because the source of the pain has been buried so deeply, walled off so completely no one is ever going to get close enough to exposed it.
People wonder how Christ can love everyone. How can grace be available even to the wicked? I think part of it may be in his ability to see past the radiation and into the source of their pain. He sees the hurt and longs to heal us.
Healing is there if we allow Christ, sometimes through the help of others, to poke around and find the exposed nerve. Like a visit to the dentist, it can be painful. But, in the end, it stops the radiation hurting us and the people we love.
At the dentist she showed him which tooth hurt. He tapped it, scraped it and blew cold air on it. Nothing. She said, "I know it hurt earlier. It had to be that one... or maybe this one." When she tapped the second tooth, it moved and she winced.
The problem with nerve pain is it can radiate. The pain spreads out into areas not really damaged. You can't tell where the real wounding is.
This can be true with emotional wounding as well. It's why we come home, after a bad day at work, yell at our wife and kick the dog. They aren't the ones who made us mad, it's just our anger didn't have an outlet at the office.
It can be why we make decisions that are self destructive. Why the cycle of abuse continues. It's why a spouse would return to the abuser.
From the outside it's bewildering. Why would an normally intelligent person, be so out of control of certain areas of his or her life? It's because the source of the pain has been buried so deeply, walled off so completely no one is ever going to get close enough to exposed it.
People wonder how Christ can love everyone. How can grace be available even to the wicked? I think part of it may be in his ability to see past the radiation and into the source of their pain. He sees the hurt and longs to heal us.
Healing is there if we allow Christ, sometimes through the help of others, to poke around and find the exposed nerve. Like a visit to the dentist, it can be painful. But, in the end, it stops the radiation hurting us and the people we love.
No comments:
Post a Comment