Cancer and Toothaches

What does cancer have in common with a toothache? Read Libby Groves' excellent reflection on this very thing.

In the case of Al’s cancer, the whole thing seems so big, and beyond us, and mysterious, that it’s almost easier to think, “Well, God’s ways are higher than ours, and he knows how to bring great good, and blessing and glory out of very hard things, so we’ll just walk with him and see how he does that in this situation.” On the other hand, my stubborn tooth is such a piddly, insignificant, mundane thing that it wouldn’t necessarily occur to me to think of it as being in the same boat. Yet there I was on Wednesday wondering why the Lord would bother to hide my nerve from the needle rather than let the tooth get uneventfully crowned and forgotten about. That would make so much more sense to me. After all, we’ve got plenty going on right now, and lots of other things to think about and spend our time on besides me sitting in the dentist’s chair for hours, over and over.

And that began to be a clue. Too many things to do and think about…too many other things to “spend our time on”… Hmmm.

Do yourself a favor and go read the whole thing. It'll help keep things in perspective...