I hate dentist offices. Don’t get me wrong; I have friends who are dentists. Dentists are good people. Regular dental care is important to good oral health. I know all of this and yet, since I was a little boy I have been afraid of the dentist office more than any other practice of medicine. I associate dentistry with pain. Maybe it was too many drillings with insufficient anesthesia. Whatever, I learned to avoid visits to the dentist until the last possible moment, like when a tooth chipped or filling fell out.
But thanks be to God, I have a good wife who is on me about my avoidance behavior and the need to take care of my mouth. I remember my long journey back to dental hygiene like it was yesterday. Thirteen years ago, I sat in the dentist chair for 3 hours, getting two fillings repaired/replaced; a crown done on one old, mangled molar; and finally, the hygienist, rubbed, scraped and sandblasted away about 5 years of stains. It’s amazing what they got done. I felt better; I remember the anesthesia working well this time.
Since then my visits have been pleasant – we talk hockey –my fight or flight instinct no longer sets in. My teeth are cleaner and whiter than I ever remember them being. Why did I put it off so long? I now have a long and regular relationship with them.
In a sense, that whole dentist visit 13 years ago was kind of spiritual. I know people who are avoiding God and church, like I used to avoid the dentist. They come up with all sorts of good and bad reasons. Just like my childhood experience kept me from the dentist, a painful experience in the past may be keeping them from getting the spiritual care they need, and they wait until their lives are falling apart. They may fear what this spiritual hygiene may feel and look like.
I hope I am as gentle with them as the dental staff was with me. I want them to have a long and regular relationship here at Bemidj i Evangelical Covenant Church.
Who do you know that needs some spiritual hygiene?
