Thursday, September 20, 2012

Over two hours in the dentist's chair today.

Awesome. (Another well-deserved shout out to Dr. Yang!)

I had a couple of crowns replaced, one of which was the right front tooth. It's been needing work for a while - 20+ years, to be exact - and today was the day.

Back in 4th grade I hit this tooth on the bottom of the swimming pool while trying to show off for a friend and do a smiling back flip under water. (I know. Whatever you're thinking, my mom has probably brought to my attention. And now that I'm a mother...well...)

Anyway, I lived most of my adolescence with this slightly shorter front tooth to tide me over until I could get a "grown-up" crown. One day, in Seymour, Indiana, between 1989 and 1991, I did just that.

And it was a fine tooth. Shiny porcelain that introduced my smile to many new acquaintances. But over time my gums receded, revealing the black metal beneath the porcelain at the gum line, and I couldn't bleach it like the rest of my teeth, so it took on a recent buttery shade. Considerably less attractive.

Today I got a new crown. It's temporary, but it's already so much better than my old one!

Before I could see this beauty, however, the old crown had to be sawed in pieces by a diamond drill and cracked off my real tooth, which was lurking beneath the surface.

What did that look like?

I should never have asked to see it.

Have you seen versions of Snow White's witch?

That's pretty close.

A short, narrow, brown stump is what I have for a front tooth in reality. It was horrifying. Like an Appalachian witchy woman, grinning over her cauldron at the entrance to her cave.

But that's my real tooth. This creamy white temporary crown isn't me. It's the beautiful cover my dentist put there.

A crown I couldn't have applied myself.

A crown that covers a rotting (or so it appeared), shriveled stump that has become useless and appalling.

"That's good to remember, when I'm tempted to get cocky about my beautiful smile!" I thought to myself, while admiring my new crown in the mirror this evening.

Then it occurred to me that this crown is just like what Jesus did for my sinful nature when He took my sin upon Himself on the cross.

He covered my sin with His spotless life. A beautiful crown, a white covering, a righteousness I did nothing to earn and couldn't possibly have provided for myself.

The prophet Isaiah said this:

“Come now, let us reason together,”
    says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
  they shall be as white as snow,
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

Our sin has been washed away by the perfect sacrifice of Christ. We did nothing to earn it. We can't do anything to keep it. So I can be comfortable revealing my weaknesses and my sin because we all have it! Why would I pretend this beauty that covers me is mine?! 

I have a brown stump for a tooth, and I'm not ashamed to admit it! 

And I have a Savior who has washed away my sin and given me a righteousness I don't deserve. 

My sins were as scarlet; now they're as white as snow!

Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ!






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