Baby Teeth

Isaiah 12:1-16:7

“When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon.” Isaiah 14:3

As I prayed last night before I fell asleep, I asked God if a year of rest from the tormentors and the Enemy’s minions was even possible. A whole year where everything in life was hunky dory. Where we would have enough money for everything we needed AND a lot of what we wanted, no on got sick, the ministry would go well, books would sell, Sean and I would take joy in our jobs and the kids would love their teachers and do well in school. I would be skinnier and more outwardly beautiful so that my husband would desire me above all others, without any extra effort on my own part. The house would stay clean because EVERYONE would keep it that way, instead of just me. The yard would stay perfectly mowed and landscaped. The weeds wouldn’t even bother coming up because they knew they would just be pulled anyway.

It may all sound silly when put together in this way, but it’s true. It’s what I want. I’d probably be bored to tears in the first month and a half, but wouldn’t it be nice not to have to be in a constant battle against something? I mean, there’s ALWAYS something going on, or not going on as the case may be. And depending on the circumstances there are even things that go on only in our heads while everything else around us is perfectly fine.

That is why I have latched onto this scripture today. It doesn’t say “If” the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil… It says, WHEN the LORD has given you rest. It’s not a matter of if it will happen, it’s as certain as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. We never have any doubts that the sun will fail in performing it’s daily dance through the sky, yet we doubt if God will be faithful in performing the things He has said He would do.

Hmmm… I no more than finished writing that and my six year old came up to me and asked if I would wiggle her top front tooth that is loose and juuuust about to come out. My friend Tammy has been giving her a hard time and telling her that she shouldn’t lose her tooth because she would get in trouble. She would get in trouble for losing her library book, or her special toys, so why wouldn’t she get in trouble for losing her tooth? God put it in there for a reason didn’t He?

Well, just now as I was wiggling her tooth she and I were telling my son about the things Tammy has been telling her and he countered it with, “Yes, but God is taking her tooth out to make room for a bigger one.” Well, said my son!

My friends, what if these battles in life that shake us are like baby teeth! They’re there in order to hold a spot in our life for a while, so that when the adult baby tooth starts to come in it will have a space in our life. There’s a period of time when the baby tooth is shaky and no longer permanently fixed in our heads. It’s loose in order to give us a little time to get used to the idea of things changing in our lives. Then the day comes and it falls out completely, leaving a gaping open space in our lives that seems empty and barren and maybe even a little bloody and raw. But it certainly doesn’t stay that way for long does it? Before we know it that adult tooth starts filling in the gaping hole with it’s shiny white newness and amazing strength.

Maybe the things that are shaking and unstable in our lives right this very moment have just been placed there as a baby tooth. Something to help us learn how to eat solid meat and it’s just the right size for our baby sized thinking, but now it’s time that we grew up a bit more. So the baby thing starts shaking and wiggling and scaring the bajeepers out of you because it’s certainly never wiggled like that before. And you might even have an Aunt Tammy who’s teasing you and making you think that it’s not OK to lose your tooth!

Lord, there ARE things in my life that are shaking and wiggling loose and it is terrifying me. And I do have someone in my life that is taking full advantage of those uncertainties and taunting me with them. Please help me to see that it’s all going to be OK and to know what things I need to let go of. Help me to live with my hands open and not clenched in fear of losing the things that I don’t need to be holding onto. Help me to be a little more like Anna. She’s not afraid to lose her tooth, she’s excited about it enough to ask for help in wiggling it. And that’s what I’m doing today Lord. Please help me wiggle this lose tooth and get it the rest of the way out so that my new tooth can come in and fill the gap, steady and solid and stable. Please come and steady my heart Lord as this huge transition in my life approaches. I’ve started new jobs before and I can do it again. Help me to remember that through the power of Your Holy Spirit I can do everything You call me to do. ALL of it! Please help me quiet the voices trying to frighten me into thinking that this transition is a bad thing instead of a good thing. I know that You are in it and that tells me that it’s good for me, no matter what.

Lord, thank You for always being with me and never leaving me or forsaking me in my weaknesses. I trust You Lord, even when I don’t fully understand what You’re doing or why. I love You Lord, please let Your perfect love come in and cast out all my fear.! In Jesus’ name. Amen!