For the past week or two I had noticed something going on in my leg. There was first a red spot, then it started to look infected. So, curious as to what could be causing it, I took a safety pin, scissors, tweezers, and my pocketknife and set to work to find out what was causing the infection, but to no avail. I could see something dark in my leg, but it was so deep in there I was thinking it might be a blood vessel, and I could see nothing else that looked foreign, so I doused the wound in alcohol and left it.
The body, doing its thing, scabbed the area. And me, as is my habit when scabs get itchy, picked the scab off. And out of the old wound popped a half-inch long thorn. Amazing!
Somehow the body was able to recognize that whatever that thing was, it was something foreign, and after trying to break it down and failing, it just rejected it and pushed it back out. The body truly is fearfully and wonderfully made.
But with this thorn came mystery as well. Where did it come from? How did it get lodged in my shin? I knew I hadn't fallen on any thorns or cacti, yet here was this thing in my leg. I had heard a story from my uncle of a sliver going in one side of his hand and coming out the other, but where would the thorn have pierced in order to come out my leg? my foot? my calf? I don't think so.
Then I went on an adventure this past Tuesday, and I realized the answer. Spanish daggers. As I was crossing the Franklin mountains, scaling cliffs and traversing rock slides, I ran into a couple of Spanish daggers. This is what they look like:
In this desert of a place, they are beautiful. They are able to add some colour to the landscape. But they hurt. You brush up against one of these and their leaves can poke straight through your jeans and skewer you. And on my hike I realized one other thing. When you get poked by one of these, more often than not the little tip of 'leaf' breaks off; and more often than not, it stays lodged in your leg, festering there until the body realizes what it is and rejects it.
I guess this is kind of like me when I feel slighted by someone. It hurts, but I 'get over it' quickly and move on. I think it's done and over with, but then, until I am able to identify and reject the lie that the person's comment planted in my mind or the grudge that I allowed to start, those feelings can fester and infect. Just like with the Spanish daggers, there are some times when the pokers (unhealthy thoughts) are easily identified and removed, but then there are other times when it goes deep and it takes a lot of time and processing for the body (mind) to reject it.
Maybe that's why Paul said that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Lies and hurts usually start in the mind, with misunderstandings. If we are able to identify lies and misunderstandings quickly, that can help with emotional healing as well.
Going back to my story, from my hike on Tuesday I still have some Spanish daggers lodged in my legs, so I'l have to watch and wait and see how long my body takes to catch on and reject them.
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