The Dentist

A few days ago I had my 6 month appointment with the dentist and to be honest I truly dislike going to the dentist. (That's really besides the point.) Anyway, I came home from work and began my usual cleaning procedure which I'm sure many of you can attest to doing so yourself. I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth really well, making sure to follow all the rules about which way you brush and how long. From there I moved onto mouthwash, and then I brushed my teeth again, just in case I missed anything. After that I flossed my teeth (and to be honest, I rarely do that any other time of the year) and finished up with another quick brushing. I'm going to guess that it all must have worked b/c I walked out without a cavity this time.

As I was doing all of this though it really got me to thinking. I mean honestly I know the fact that I brushed my teeth really well on that day a hour before I went to the dentist was not what caused me to have a good visit, cavity free. Obviously it was the fact that I brushed my teeth daily and didn't eat bags of candy every day.  However it's funny to me that every time I have a dentist appointment I go through this ridiculous procedure.  I must really think that this last minute brushing has some effect on my results and while it's nice b/c the dentist won't smell my stinky breath when I go in, it's really just a last minute attempt to make myself seem half presentable. In some ways I think many Christians try to do this as well, me included at times.

We try and do a quick last ditch effort to make ourselves seem presentable to God. For instance we'll go to church once a month or a couple times a year and think that qualifies us as Christian's in a deep relationship with Christ. Now I'm not saying that whether or not you go to church is what makes you a Christian, but if you're just counting a few visits here and there without any reading on your own, or one on one time with God that's not really doing what God asks us to do. Trust me I know life can get busy and it can seem as though we don't have time but that's when we cut out the time spent doing useless things. Cut out that extra hour of tv and spend it reading the great and exciting book that's really better than any show that's on tv. God can see our entire lives, he knows what we have or will do. He's even better at picking out our flaws than a dentist is at picking out our cavities. Unlike the dentist who may miss one or two God's never going to miss one and he's easily going to see through that quick effort we do to polish ourselves up.  Plus with a God as awesome as the one we have why would we want to just polish up for him, why wouldn't we want to take care of ourselves daily, learning to grow and become closer with him. In reality wouldn't that make dentist visits a little more pleasant as well. If we actually met with our dentist more than twice a year and were able to develop a relationship with him so he would know us and we would know him I'm willing to be the visits would be a lot better. However that's really not the point of my blog at all so I'm going to move on.

Don't just spend a hour here and there trying to get to know our amazing God. We need to stop just trying to settle for mediocre in our relationship with him on our part and strive to get as close as humanly possible as we can to him. I know I struggle with this as well but I want to make a stand and truly start trying to grow closer.  Stop polishing and start diving in and growing with him b/c he's waiting for us. So let's go!

At the end of the road...

So today as I was driving to the gym, on a road I pass many times I saw that they had changed a sign I had seen all of my life on that road. The sign now says something to the effect of God is always there for you. Don't get me wrong that's a great message and very comforting to see. However it got me to thinking about what the old sign had said. A very simple sign that simply read "at the end of the road you will meet God" Now I remember driving past that sign when I was a kid and reading it and getting so excited. Every time we passed a side street I asked my mom, "Is this the end of the road?" My mom not understanding kept saying "No" and after me asking quite a few times questioned why I wanted to know where the end of the road was so bad. In extreme excitement and anticipation I exclaimed "at the end of the road you will meet God and I just want to make sure that I don't miss it!"
Now I can imagine my Mom's surprise at this as well as the idea that she then had to explain to me that I wasn't actually going to meet God today. That actually meant when I died I would meet God. I remember being a little upset, I had been so excited and here that meant that I wasn't going to meet God. I may have even told her they should change the sign so no one else would be confused.
Today though I realized I have changed from that child I had been. I no longer think that way. Sometimes I wonder in fact if I would really be as excited if I saw that sign now and thought the same thing. Would I have that childlike faith of wanting to see God, asking every few moments if we were at the end of the road. While I know God wants us to enjoy our lives here on earth and soak up everything we can I know he wants us to be excited to get to him and see who he truly is, and worship at his feet.
I'm going to try to live my life in the balance between the two now. Part of me wanting "to get to the end of the road" to meet my God and savior and the other part of me enjoying every second I have on earth. Trying to live my life the way that God intended that to be, regardless of what it is. It may not be easy but with a God like I have nothing is impossible!