Dental Floss and Daily Routine

I recently went to the dentist.  Ah, dreaded appointment.  While I don't look forward to the tense muscles, the aftermath of laying stiff as a board for a half hour, the real horror lies in the question.

I can feel the anxiety building as I sit down in the chair, bracing myself for the polishing and the supersonic water tool.  I breathe deeply and look up at the white ceiling tiles to avoid the bright yellow light shining into my open mouth.  The turquoise face mask comes into view as she begins.  We get through nearly the whole cleaning before it comes up, that question I have to answer.  It plagues my worried heart.  Ever the responsible person, I feel drowned in guilt knowing my answer.  Another rinse, and I know it's coming.  Then it's upon me:  "Have you been flossing regularly?"

"No," I say.  I try to smile apologetically.  It's one of those daily routines I just haven't adopted.  Some nights I'm too tired.  Other nights I forget.  Sometimes I realize my appointment is approaching, so I floss a few times in a desperate effort to support a more responsible answer.

"Even if you can floss a few times a week to start, that will help," says the dental hygenist.

"Okay."  I know I'll try again.  Every appointment, I leave saying I'm going to floss, even just those few times weekly.  The first week or two, I stick to it.  Then I start making excuses.  "I don't want to tonight" and "I'll do it tomorrow night" and "If I miss it one time, it can't make that much of a difference."  It's like a New Year's resolution, so determined at first.  Then, by February, nearly forgotten.

More often than I'd like to admit, this is also how I treat reading the Bible.  It's a routine that should be practiced daily, consistently.  And yet, I put it off.  I make excuses.  "I'm too tired."  "The kids are already awake."  "I've got to clean the house."

But, even though the routine can seem tedious, that's the only way to intimacy with God.

It doesn't happen overnight.

Much like flossing, the addition or subtraction of one day makes little difference.  Whether I floss today or not has a minimal effect on my gums.  Whether I read my Bible today or not has a minimal effect on my heart.  But if I don't do it today, chances are I won't do it tomorrow or the next day.  And then I drift further away.

It's through daily immersion in Scripture that God changes hearts.

Psalm 119:11 reads: "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

Ephesians 6 reads: "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes... Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God."  

It's His word which gives us the strength we need day by day to fight evil.  Jesus even quotes this Scripture to Satan, "Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3).  It's His Word that nourishes us, His Word that breathes life into us, allowing us to see the world through a different lense.  And if we don't take the time to read it daily, consistently, then we miss out on God.