A Cavity ?!?

I went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago for my routine cleaning. I found out at that time that I had a cavity. I was shocked! I haven't had a cavity since middle school. I take very good care of my teeth! I have been dreading going in to get it filled. I just kept thinking about that HUGE needle they were going to use to numb it and then I was going to have to live with a fat lip for several hours. I really worked myself up about it. Right before I went in, I took a deep breath and said "Lord, be with me through this."

Once I got into the waiting room I wasn't there a full minute before I was called back. I sat down, she said the doctor will be with you in a few minutes and immediately the doctor walked in. Did't they know I needed a little time to fret some more! This is how the conversation went:

Dentist: Do you want me to numb this?
Me: (laughing) uh, you do whatever you think is best
Dentist: (Picks up his drill)
Me: Uh, what are doing?
Dentist: You said I didn't have to numb it
Me: I thought you were kidding!
Dentist: I don't think it's that deep and I really think you'll be fine

I ended up letting him go ahead and do it without numbing me. And you know what? It basically didn't hurt at all! He then put a white filling on it and now you can't even tell anything was done. I was in and out in 15 minutes and it really wasn't a big deal at all.

I got to thinking later how our spiritual lives can look so much like this story. We have this issue in our life that is just so small, that if we would just let Jesus take care of it right away, we would experience very little pain, very little discomfort. We could just let Jesus clean out the bad and put a seal on it and we could go on with our lives, with really nothing different about us. Instead, so many times, we hide it from God. Maybe we're scared, ashamed or just don't want to admit that we have an issue. So, we hide, we ignore, we run. Then we're left with a much bigger "fix." It can't be fixed painlessly. God has to do much more drilling, honing, molding to clean us up. In the end we're left with deep scars that may never completely go away.

In all honesty, when the dentist said how small the cavity was the first thing I thought was maybe we should just wait then until it gets bigger. Then I thought, it would probably be much easier if I just went through with this today. Oh to respond to Jesus like that. I don't want to do this, go through this, but I know it's better to deal with this today than put it off until tomorrow. I hope I remember this next time I feel that gentle nudge. The road is so much easier if I just respond right away. It may not be painless, it may take some work, but in the end, Jesus wants what's best for me!