X-RAY Revelations

Our blogging subject choices seem to get more difficult the nearer we get to the end of the A to Z Challenge!

X-ray is a difficult choice for me, in more ways than one. I’ve had a nagging issue with a tooth, and went to the dentist recently to have it checked out. The results were what I dreaded but expected, and I have carried with me for weeks now the referral for a consultation with a root canal specialist.

There are a lot of reasons I haven’t yet made the call to set up an appointment, the easiest being that I‘ve been too busy blogging to worry about my teeth! But The Challenge is coming to an end, and with it my ability to use that particular reason to procrastinate. I’m afraid it’s fear that keeps me from following through. I’ve had one before and it wasn’t so bad, although clearly not something I’d take on by choice. Surely I should be thankful I don’t have anything more serious medically to deal with, and pick up the phone in a spirit of gratitude. The last of my feeble excuses is my work schedule, which is unpredictable at best and makes the scheduling of any kind of activity an adventure that usually takes at least a couple of tries to complete. In this instance it’s a challenge I’ve yet to take on.

A discussion with some friends last night led to the realization that the reading and studying the Bible is much like taking an x-ray of our soul. We see what we should look like spiritually and get a picture of where we fall short. It illustrates our need to go to the Specialist and let Him help us take care of some things. Yet often we find that we are amazingly slow to make that call.

We’re busy, of course… too busy to deal with issues that can be dealt with later, when there’s not so much going on in our lives, all the while knowing that such a day will never come. We don’t want to make a commitment to the time and effort involved in dealing with our issues only to rack it up as yet one more obligation to which we failed to follow through. Surely we already have too many of those on our slates. Much as we hate to admit it, most of our delay is caused by fear of the pain involved in looking more closely at problem areas in our lives and going through the process of correcting them. We don’t do it by choice.

Too long delayed, however, and soon the pain of ignoring the situation becomes worse than any involved in dealing with it, and we simply have no choice but to call for help. I look back on the day I decided to pray and realize now it was the smartest move I ever made, based on the spiritual health and wealth of the years that followed. May those x-ray reflections on past successes be the motivation I need to pick up the phone and likewise do what needs to be done…today.

“He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble,  I will deliver him and honor him.”
(Psalm 91:15 NIV)