Be Still And Know

Anyone out there have a dad who was a pocket knife man? A man with a cure-all in his hand?  If ever you needed something that a pocket knife could possibly be used for, or even probably shouldn’t be used for, he was there pocket knife in hand. Even when he had no pockets he would pull that pocket knife out of thin air as if it was his super power. 

Need to open letter? Pocket knife

No clean utensils? Pocket knife

Splinter?  Pocket knife

No Q-tip to clean out your ear?

Got something under your toe nail?

Want a piece of cheese?  Why would you use a cheese cutter when you could use a pocket knife? 

Did I mention that pocket knives are miraculously self-cleaning? Though, if it needed some precautionary cleaning, a quick right left swipe of each side of the blade on the pant leg of your jeans would completely sanitize it.  Don’t worry if was just used to cut off your brother’s wart, go ahead and cut yourself off a piece of salami.   

If your dad was not a pocket knife man, you think I’m joking. Sorry, I didn’t have to squeeze my brain for any creativity, none of the above examples are made up. 

When I was little I always tried to keep my feet hidden when I saw that pocketknife.   You see, my favorite footwear was barefoot. I guess I thought I was a  hobbit running around and climbing trees with nothing on my feet.  Unfortunately, my feet were not as resilient as Frodo’s because I often got splinters. 

If my dad noticed me walking funny he would ask me if he could just look at my foot. Yeah right! I wasn’t stupid. I knew what would happen the second he got hold of my foot. Who needs tweezers?  The sharp point of a knife is much more effective. 

One time I had a splinter that was so painful my dad somehow convinced me to let him help. He didn’t even have his pocket knife out but every time he went to touch my sore foot I would scream and jerk my leg back as if he had already cut off half my toe. 

The anticipation of the pain I created in my head was just too much.  I believed that keeping the splinter would actually be less painful.

Are you doing the same thing?

How often do we do that to ourselves when we have a wound that is much deeper and more affecting than a little splinter?  No one can go through life unscathed, but we can choose to be healed from wounds along the way. 

Do we limp along and pretend the pain isn’t too bad? Are we convinced that the suffering of healing it would be a lot worse, so why bother? Sometimes we hold on to the pain like it is an old friend. We let it become part of our identity.  The hurt somehow morphs into a way of life, a weird comfort that we don’t know how to live without. So we just keep it.  

It seems silly. Why would someone keep a splinter when they could have relief?  We all do it though.  Allowing healing would also mean allowing change. It would mean giving up control. 

Accept change and give up control?  Some would rather take a bare legged ride down a slide made from old wood. “I’ll take a thousand splinters and definitely don’t approach me with a pocket knife.”

There’s a problem with this “solution” though. When we are forced to slow down and we no longer have all the distractions we’ve placed in our lives, those splinters start to throb. We can no longer deny their presence.  

This quarantine has left us alone with our thoughts so we start turning to other things to help us forget. Now our weaknesses are more evident than ever before as if the pain wasn’t already enough!

What is your “go to” cover up?  Food? Sleep? Netflix?  

I wonder how many are desperate for this to be over so we can get back to ignoring some of the less appealing things in our lives.  But as we get tired of the cover-ups and start getting real, something miraculous starts to happen. We start to heal. 

Just like the skies that are clearing from smog, water that has gone from murky to pure, we are also being restored, changed. We start to relax, be with ourselves, letting a spirit of peace bring us to a place of trust.  Maybe being in control is over rated since God is always the one in control anyhow. 

As we are believing, still, and trusting, God does His work in removing the splinter. We didn’t know the relief we were missing. Once the splinter is gone the healing comes quickly. 

For I will restore health unto thee. And will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 30:17

Yes, we have another Father who has a cure for anything that ails you. It is His “super power.” It isn’t a pocket knife, though that can fix a lot. It is His Son who can fix even more. All.

Yell too much? His Son.

Treated unfairly? His Son.

Critical? His Son.

Addicted, abandoned, abused, angry, anxiety? You get the idea.

Now’s the time. The Lord will heal you if you let Him. You part is small: be still and know. He will do the rest. I promise He won’t use a pocket knife;)

If this was helpful, thank you for sharing!

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