Tuesday, October 23, 2012

A lesson in Lint and Lashes...

Because the church we needed to be at was an hour away, Sunday morning was a bit of an early one. While getting ready, I was applying my mascara and thought there was something scratchy on my eye. But, it was SO EARLY my eyes were kind of half open at this point, so I figured it would be fine once they were fully open. 

Boy was I wrong. 
While driving to the church, my eye began watering, hurting, and wanted to stay closed. This is NOT a good thing, as at this point my options were very limited! (note to self: make emergency make-up kit for truck!) 

1. I could fuss with it and wreck the make up on one eye, and leave the other. 
Not going to do that. 

2. I could fuss with it and wreck the make up on one eye and take it off both eyes. 
Not going to do that either. 

3. I could ignore it, and maybe eventually the tears would wash whatever the issue was away. 
That was seriously unlikely to happen at this point. 

4. I could carefully try to get the problem off of my mascara caked lashes. 
That is what I did. 

At this point whatever was embedded in my lashes was gorilla glued by my waterproof mascara and was not coming off without some serious force. I figured by now my cornea was already scratched and any attempt to eliminate all signs of struggle was impossible, so I just plunged ahead and scraped off a few coats of my Long Lash Marathon Falsies Black Noir mascara. Wrecked several lashes in the process, but alas the offending piece of whatever it was finally was removed. ACH! 

Seriously, had I paid attention to the issue in the morning when the first sign of trouble popped up, I would have avoided the whole thing! But, no, Ignore it and Move ON! 

~

But isn't that sometimes how we tend to deal with the "little things" ?

Ignore it and move on... (Lord, is this something you really want me to deal with?) 

It will be fine... (Seriously! It is only a little thing!) 

No one will notice the red eye or the tears pouring down your face... (Who do they thing they are? Don't judge me!) 

The scarring to your cornea will only go through the first two layers...  (She doesn't understand me anyhow! Why should I care?) 

Your vision will only be slightly blurred for a day or two... (Who needs friends like that in their life anyhow!) 

~

Sitting in the truck driving to church Sunday morning was a bit of a spiritual moment. A huge bit of a God moment, to be exact! 

The Lord was showing me in that brief moment of struggle with a little piece of lint that a little sin in my life is the exact same way. The Holy Spirit always tries to bring things to my attention early. Conviction is swift in a tender spirit. 

But all too often I try to lacquer over it with whatever beauty preparation I choose for the moment. 

A little denial here, a little "righteous anger" there.

A second coat of some "walk a mile in my shoes and you would understand."

But the truth will be there, waiting, and maybe not all that patiently. And the longer I choose to ignore it, the more damage it may do.

I know this verse is speaking of the tongue but...

"Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!"  James 3:5 
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