Nailed It!

Two things. That's not my thumb and the injury I wrote about below is completely healed! This is from December 26, 2012. About six weeks ago, the thumb on my right hand got into a fight with a fifty pound weight plate as I was working out- you can guess who won. My thumbnail immediately filled up with blood and turned black. Several hours later, I found on the internet how you could heat up a paper clip and it would melt a hole in the nail, releasing the blood. I tried....but it hurt too much and I chickened out. So, since early November, I've walked around with a discolored nail, answering numberless inquiries as to the cause. Ten or so days ago, the nail began to come off, from the bottom up. Since then, I've covered the nail with a bandage any time I go out in public. Some healing should be done under the privacy of a Band Aid.

We all love the caterpillar to butterfly story, how the ugly thing turns into the beautiful thing. That's not how this is going. I started with the bandage because one of my players looked at my thumb and said, "Coach, that's gross!" And it was/is. The nail started coming off in chunks and there was still the issue of the dried blood being exposed. The new nail is showing itself more every day but it's a slow process. I don't know what will become of the top 1/3 of the nail which was not affected and never discolored. It may have to go, too, as collateral damage in the whole affair. It was just on the wrong appendage at the wrong time. I'm hopeful I can go bare with the thumb again in several weeks but like I mentioned, it's been slow.

Our lives are filled with busted thumbnails. They come under the guise of job problems or family anger or addiction or fill in the blank. There's the initial trauma followed by the attempted quick fix followed by the cover up incorporated into the long, slow healing process. We can't predict the end result, either. Just like I don't know if this new nail will be presentable or grotesque, we can't tell if the outcome of the infidelity or the lies or the mismanagement will be healthy or perpetuation of the bad behavior. Much depends on our attitude in dealing with it. I mean, there is denying I caused the problem with my thumb in the first place by sheer carelessness which is how many of our heartaches originate. From the scriptures, we see the first step is always confession and the seeking of forgiveness, from the Lord first and then those offended. The healing process with the spirit is slow as it is with the body, and there may be scars left behind where unmarked flesh had lived before. I've been through a box of Band Aids, a small price to pay for my negligence. If only adhesive strips could repair a broken heart or shattered family. I do know the Lord can if we let Him do what He does with unequaled skill and compassion. It's a great time of the year to remember His grace for those He loved enough to create. Let the healing begin!

Applicable quote of the day:
'If you do big things they print your face, and if you do little things they print only your thumbs.'

Arthur Baer

God bless,

Steve
Luke 18:1

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E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com