Endured my annual skin cancer screening recently—funny the areas I thought were serious were not. However, seems the doctor was a bit alarmed at some rough patches on my face. Yep, he matter of factly froze them right then and there. He also seemed perplexed as to why I hadn’t noticed them. Sure I noticed them...I noticed them every day as I applied concealer and foundation to hide them. They've been there for a long time, and I just figured they were part of the aging process. Nope, they were precancerous lesions caused by years and years of cumulative sun damage. Something I gave no thought to in my teens and my twenties, as I foolishly ignored advice to wear sunscreen, and later, to get annual checks. The older I get, and the more I ignore them and do nothing, the worse they become.
Just like all the little sins, the minor trespasses committed without nary a second thought. You know, the little slips of the tongue, the gossiping, the slamming door, the self-pity. All the human selfish tendencies I become so immune to, so complacent with. Years of cumulative damage, scarring the soul almost imperceptibly, slowly, relentlessly, barely noticeable as they become part of my persona. Covering them up with prayers and words and excuses and rationalizations, trying to cancel them out with good deeds, remorse, and repentance, hiding them under a smile, a kind word, church attendance.
Until someone points them out.
Until the Spirit convicts, forces me to look in the mirror, and see them for what they are: ugly, rough spots on my soul.
Then He heals them--and the healing process makes them more noticeable, tender, painful, making me more aware of their presence than before, more careful, gingerly touching the spots where the damage was done. As they heal, always a small white spot to remind me of my foolhardiness.
Anxious for the day to come when I receive a new, fresh body, without any scars or blemishes.
"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him..." Colossians 1:21-22
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