The Tale of Two...

One gruesome incident led to my gold star moment.  I was a young teenager, I believe, laying down with my mouth stretched wide while the dentist from hell berated my dental hygiene practices or lack thereof.  There was blood.  There was plaque.  There was fluid.  It was on my face.  It was probably in my hair, but it didn’t matter to this heartless dental Nazi.  She was determined to convince me of the error of my ways through pain and a very loud discourse about my ineptness.  I was a helpless victim with no defense.  I couldn’t respond with her hands shoved in my gaping mouth anyway, and if I did what exactly would I say.  "I didn’t brush my teeth until today.” “What is floss?" 

Fast forward to college. “It takes you forever to brush your teeth!”  I was hogging the sink in my dorm room and my roommate, Kim, was a little perplexed at my tooth brushing fervor.  I proceeded to recount the story that set me on the dental hygiene path of righteousness.  

And my proudest gold star moment happened last month.  I went to the dentist and received much praise for my teeth cleaning ability-All because of the Nazi dentist and her over-the-top reprimands.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily advocating dental abuse, but it was quite effective.  I don’t recall my previous dental experiences because they obviously didn’t have a lasting effect on me. 

In contrast, we were at our wits’ end.  We had tried everything imaginable, but we could not get our daughter to stop sucking her thumb.  We finally resorted to this clear, plastic device that strapped on the wrist and claimed that it was 100% effective. I think we bought it on eBay.  A child could not access their thumb with it on.  We strapped it on, knowing we had finally found the answer.  She was in the back seat when I turned around and I noticed that her solution to her dilemma was to just suck on the other thumb.  Back to the internet I went, to purchase a second device for the other thumb.  It arrived, and I strapped it on the other thumb.  Now, we had definitely solved it, until I turned around in the car and noticed, to my dismay, that she had gotten her thumb out of the “impossible-to-get-your-thumb-out-of contraption.  After years of trying everything, I gave up.

Shortly after this, we went for our first visit to our new dentist.  He explained that our daughter's teeth were going to need orthodontic repair and that she would have to stop sucking her thumb.  I looked at him in despair and recounted all that I had done to stop her.  He leaned over and transformed into the tooth whisperer.  Very gently, in a barely-audible voice, he explained “I know you can do this.  You can stop sucking your thumb, because I believe you can.  When you come back next month we will celebrate with you.”  She nodded in agreement.  I sarcastically thought, “Yeah, right!”  ,

That night she asked for a glove to put on her hand.  I gave her one.  She never sucked her thumb again.  I wondered if I should tell the tooth whisperer that he should sell a recording of his voice on the internet.  

The contrast between these two incidents is stark.  I am the type of person that wants to find the most effective way to achieve results, rinse, and repeat.  Unfortunately, that is not possible.  Sometimes we need the tooth whisperer and sometimes we need the Nazi dentist.  I think the only way we can know which one to tap into is to listen to the Holy Spirit.  In this era, of “safety” we tend to think that the tooth whisperer is the only effective, safe way to affect change, but we all know that sometimes we need the Nazi dentist shouting in our ear because we are so hardheaded.  Holy Spirit help us.