A Trip to the ER

Ok-life on the farm is somewhat dangerous...but our place is ridiculous! We sat down the other night and calculated the grand total of medical procedures our family has needed. The list is pretty impressive. Our latest trip to the ER,a few weeks ago,was for a single staple in the head...a launching from a horse...minor check off of the list. Kid stuff.

Over 23 years our family has had...

82 staples
138 stitches (or more, the math got fuzzy)
4 broken arms
3 broken fingers
2 eye injuries-requiring metal to be removed
4 sprained ankles
1 sprained wrist
1 broken elbow
10 missing fingernails
Lost count on burns...
Immeasurable bruising...
35 days in-patient hospital stays
3 out-patient hospital stays.
4 major abdominal surgeries
2 Root canals
2 sets of wisdom teeth removed
5 broken noses
2 broken heels
4 adult teeth pulled
Foot surgery
Elbow surgery
2 cancer scares
Appendicitis
A whomping case of Scoliosis

I am proud to say we are all up-to-date on our Tetanus shots, although we are considering rabies shots...that would be a new thing to add to our list. And yes, we have teenage drivers...pray for us!

How is your list of wounds? Do you spend time counting the people and things that have hurt you?--savoring them? Making a list of how everyone has hurt you? Oh, how bitterness creeps in over the years. 

Jealousy, Anger, Gossip, Envy, Strife, Hurt...all of our ugly comes out when we harbor unforgiveness.  Self absorption has a way of making us miserable and the power of unforgiveness becomes frightfully obvious to others and yet oblivious to ourselves.

We keep really, really good records on others and forget that others have a record on us. Call them OUCHIES or BOO-BOO's or whatever you want but a band-aid isn't going to fix it.

We all know the verse--we KNOW we are supposed to forgive but it is so hard sometimes! Why?! Maybe pride, maybe it feels too good to keep someone else on the meat hooks, maybe we think way too much about what has been done to us than on what we have done to someone else. Either way-Jesus shows us how to forgive. He lived it --died for it and He wants you to extend it to the very person that drives you crazy. Yeah--that one.

I really don't like going to the ER because a trip to the ER means there is a wound that needs healing...something is broken that only a Physician can heal.I am so grateful that I can turn to someone who has the knowledge and skill to heal me.

That wound you have held on to for so long...It's time for a spiritual trip to the Great Physician. Don't you think?