Focusing On The Good, Or Why I Don’t Fear The Dentist (That Much)

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(9) Fear the Lord, you His holy people, for those who fear Him lack nothing.  (10) The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.’ (Psalm 39:9-10)

I have a dental appointment coming up for a routine cleaning, which for many brings a bit of trepidation. I try to overcome this by thinking of my dad’s old saying, ‘Be true to your teeth and they’ll never be false to you.’ (He did not live by this motto, as he had a full set of dentures.) The fear of the dentist stems from whenever they find a cavity, then the Novocain gets injected and the drill comes out. While the Novocain is supposed to deaden the pain, one can still feel the drill grinding into the tooth, and of course the burning smell of enamel usually sends blood pressures way up. (I do not anticipate any cavities to be found, and I pray none are to be found.)

On the ‘macro’ side of dental care, a dental visit to fix cavities is not a good thing; one tooth can cause a mouth full of pain and grief. But if one looks at the ‘micro’ side of it, overall by having your teeth taken care of regularly and cavities and such treated promptly, each tooth can individually be given a clean bill of health. Even if one had a cavity, once treated it should be good to go (at least for a while). If one neglects a single tooth’s care it can affect the others, and like my dad’s situation it can lead to having all the teeth removed, and having to deal with a set of false teeth; although it worked for him they were never as good as his real ones.

It is the same with our world today, although things on the ‘macro’ may still look bad (government ineptitude, inflation, fuel prices, global turmoil, diseases), on the ‘micro’ things are still good (Our Lord, family, relative health, shelter, food).  It’s important not to get swept up by the ‘macro’ events that are bad; so much than we lose sight of the ‘micro’ events that are doing OK and need to be taken care of first.  Remember who to focus the ‘micro’ on, Jesus.  While we must stay in the mode of ‘BE PREPARED, BE AWARE, PLAN ACCORDINGLY’, and pay attention to current events so we can navigate the waves upon us, we also need to take the time to acknowledge who we need to turn to (Jesus), who we need to support in these times (family and friends), and take stock of what the Lord has provided us already. 

We as Christians, who are Faithful, know that God provides all that we need.  This does not mean we escape every pain or calamity that falls upon us humans; Christians die or are hurt in floods and fires, Christians can get into accidents, Christians can be persecuted, starved, imprisoned, and even put to death.  But what we have – as opposed to the ‘lions’ – is The Lord on our side, to comfort us and bolster us and our Faith.  He has given us the ability to know what is next so we can grow closer to Him, prepare for those times that will come, and to work together to weather the storms.

We may not belong to the ‘club’ of the lions, who are the social and political elites who think they are calling the shots, but we do belong to the ‘Club of The Lion of Judah’, aka ‘The Church’, His Bride, His Body of Believers.  This is the only ‘club’ worth belonging to.  Don’t lose sight of Jesus while the storms are all around us! (And, be true to your teeth and they’ll never be false to you.)