Okay, so it happens to every child in their life time. No way out of it or around it. It is a guaranteed sure thing that will occur at some point. Losing their first tooth!
So, my youngest has had one just a wiggling for quite some time. I knew what was coming, I've seen it in my other 2. Losing a first tooth can be traumatic and scary. I remember the hesitancy of my others to have it touched, wiggled or even looked at. Uncertainty about the unknown.
Well, last night it happened. Got so loose that she would not close her mouth, and slobber was just drooling as she dabbed it up with her little cloth. Drooling and a dabbing.. she was afraid with a capital A! We attempted at one point to "help" her get it out with a little parental power, knowing what a long night it could be if we didn't....but then we felt traumatized, so decided to wait.
I gave her every pep talk and reassurance I could think of. "Mariah, think of all the people who have lost their teeth, and lived through it!" "This is making room for your big girl teeth!" Her brother and sister also assured her that "nope, it doesn't hurt!" I continued to remind her that she could trust mom's wisdom and that it would be okay. To know that as soon as it popped out, it would feel great, she could eat and maybe even earn a buck or two!! (You know the whole tooth fairy thing...)
Well, she didn't budge. She continued to stay in her miserable position, drooling, dabbing and just crying that she wanted it out, but wouldn't allow us to help!
Finally, her tongue bumped against it by accident and it was literally laying right on her lip, she could tell it was out. A few more tears for the shock of it all and then sweet joy! Smiles were back, food could be eaten, talk without drool....an amazing transformation. And, she said with a grin, "Mom, now the next one won't be hard at all!"
So, you know I was just thinking to myself about myself. And, God. And, how there are so many times when God asks me to trust Him in something, and I am petrified! And just like I knew as her mama that losing it would benefit her, help her to get to the next stage of big girl teeth...God knows that the things He allows or asks me to release will not harm me, send me over the edge or anything else I fear...but rather cause me to benefit, to grow, to learn from Him.
Phew, I just wonder at the times I have sat there just a crying, drooling, dabbing, and agonizing over something, wanting to do His will, but fearing the unknown. Causing myself undue pain and misery. When all along in a whisper voice God was reassuring me that it would be okay. He'd seen it before, I could trust the outcome to Him, I wasn't the first. How many times have I "protected" something...don't touch, don't wiggle, don't MESS with this!!! And, the Lord knew that in order for me to go forward, something had to go... be "let" go of to the One in charge.
I know, I know, unlike losing a first tooth...sometimes the "losing" of things in life can be very painful. Very real. The loss of our dreams or expectations. The loss of "self" when He asks us to lay something down. The list of loss in this world is a long one indeed.
Oh, but I want to get better with every situation the Lord allows in my life...better at trusting Him first. To understand deeper that He is trustworthy, He is faithful, He is unchanging. To recognize when He is doing a new work, and when something old has got to go. To be able to say, "This time won't be as hard Lord, because I trust you with the outcome, I've seen you come through before, I know your track record!"
So enough drooling and a dabbing, drooling and a dabbing...help me trust you more, Lord!! Have your way in me!!