Ripping Off The Band-Aid

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son there shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:32, 36

One evening I was at the boys’ baseball game, and I noticed that Chase was limping so badly that he couldn't play. All the other boys were out on the field having a good time, and he was sitting in the dugout, twiddling his thumbs. I asked him why he wasn't out on the field playing, and he said his foot hurt. I remembered that he rubbed a blister on his foot over the weekend while outside playing in the woods. He had put on his boots, without wearing any socks. Something that I keep encouraging him not to do, but he seems to forget in the heat of the moment, trying to get into the woods before Carson.

I put a Band-Aid over the spot that was sore, and he went on his way. Apparently, he never removed the Band-Aid, and as a result, the sore had no way to breathe or to heal. It had gotten pretty raw.

We got home, took off his shoe, and ripped off the Band-Aid, all to his wails and cries. What we discovered was a fairly nasty ankle. He begged and pleaded for us not to put anything on it, and because he was so upset, I did wait until he was asleep to coat it with antibiotic ointment. No more Band-Aids we told him; he had to leave it open so it could heal. When he got home the next afternoon, I was able to bribe him into letting me clean it out with peroxide and more ointment. Yes, I will resort to bribing, if the need arises. As a result of a little TLC, he was no longer limping, his sore was on the road to healing, and all was well with little Chase's foot.

That incident started me thinking about life. Yes, I do a lot of thinking; have you noticed? How many times do we try to cover up our hurts with Band-Aids? They can be in the form of drugs, alcohol, food, work, sleep, or anything that keeps the wound covered, so it can't heal. As long as the hurt is covered up, it will only fester and grow. We need to bring those pains out into the open, so that we can heal.

Oh, yes, the healing process can be painful. Little Chase can attest to that. It hurts to rip off that Band-Aid, but it has to come off. There is no other way. I can assure you, on game day, when he was out on the field playing with the other boys, he really was thankful that we had forced him to go through that pain, to receive his healing.

I love this quote from Brenda Waggoner from her book, Fairy Tale Faith:

“If we hang on to our shame and guilt, they become toxic. As one of my wise eight-year-old friends said, 'Guilt is like brussel sprouts. It makes you want to throw up, and you feel much better once it gets outside of you.'”

Do you have a Band-Aid covering up a hurt today? Ask God to help you rip it off. He heals us from the inside out!

Father God, thank You for yanking off all my Band-Aids and allowing me to heal, and truly be FREE!

I love You, Jesus.
In Your name I pray,
Amen
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