Surgery

Last night I performed surgery on my toe. Okay, so surgery might not be the appropriate term, but that's what it felt like. I scraped, pulled, poked, and cut in an attempt to remove the mess of ingrown toenail causing me pain. Of course, in the process of trying to reduce my long term pain, I inflicted more immediate pain. All in all, it was not the most pleasant of experiences.

Unfortunately, last night's surgery was not an isolated event. That particular toenail likes to cause me problems on a regular basis. It will feel fine for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, especially in the summer when I wear nothing but open-toed shoes. Eventually, though, discomfort returns. Sometimes I hardly notice the discomfort. I think my sock just feels a bit off or I decide that I need to change into a looser fitting shoe. Finally, the discomfort becomes pain, making me realize the toe needs to be dealt with. I am learning, though, to recognize the signs. I catch it a little earlier every time.

Sin and ingrown toenails have a lot in common.

1. If we do not pay attention, they sneak up on us.

2. They might just be a nagging discomfort at first. But, they begin to fester.

3. The longer we leave them alone, the more difficult it becomes to deal with them.

4. The removal process can hurt just as much, if not more than, the infection itself.

5. We can increase our sensitivity to the invasion if we simply pay attention to the sore toe or the Holy Spirit's nudging.

What bothers me about the similarities between the two is the realization that, just like the same toe gets messed up in the same way over and over again, so does the same sin rear its ugly head again and again. That ought not be. I have no idea how to force my toenail to grow properly. But I do know how to avoid repetitive sin. I know how to stand up against it. I know how to choose obedience to my Savior instead.

I want to choose that obedience. I want to cut out the sin, no matter how much the surgery hurts. And I want the next surgery to be on something completely different. None of the above will always happen. I will ignore the symptoms and delay the surgery at times. I will wimp out halfway through when the poking and pulling start hurting a bit more than I'd like. And the surgery will have to be repeated on the same sin sometimes. But I pray that the more I grow the less those things will be true.

And I will await that glorious day when surgery on both ingrown toenails and sin becomes a forgotten thing of the past!