Braces & Suffering

Ok, I never had braces. Both my daughters have, though, and I have learned a lot from their experiences. One thing that struck me recently is how braces have taught me about God and His relationship to us. Now, stick with me here. Yet another vague analogy, but here goes!!!

Braces are not pleasant. They involve things like headgear, rubber bands, new wires, painful adjustments, etc. However, the end result is really usually something more than just straight front teeth. In our cases, braces helped our children avoid TMJ problems and probable surgery before middle age, because their bites were so badly out of alignment. My knowing the end result did/does not always comfort them, however; in the middle of aching after an adjustment, my reminder that having braces is really a blessing, that we are blessed to be able to afford such a correction for their poor teeth, that so many people would really appreciate being able to have braces, etc., just seems to fall on deaf ears. That is not what is wanted. What is wanted is immediate relief from the discomfort, ok, pain, that is being felt at that time. Ibuprofen is just not instant enough!! Our last experience really slapped me with this thought: THIS IS WHAT GOD FEELS LIKE. HE always knows the end result that HE desires; HE knows it won't be comfortable to us; HE is the parent that sees the benefit of the experience we just wish would go away instantly; HE has to listen to us cry in pain and just listen, comforting us as HE sits with us, knowing that the results will be worth it all, because at the end of it we can look more like HIS Son than before. We were not born looking much like Him; we have so corrupted our hearts and our humanness that we are quite twisted from what HE made us to be, and so there is a time of shaping and molding to make us into who we are to be, for HIM. Braces are shaping my children's teeth into the right fit for their mouths so that they can always chew without pulling their jaw out of joint. I know what this will look like and what it will save them later, but in the middle of the discomfort they can't see that and don't want to hear about it, they just want me to fix it. I cannot do that; all I can do is sit and wipe tears and tell them to please trust me, that it will be all better soon. What I would like to do is fix their genetics so they wouldn't have to have such awful inconvenience, to remake their jaws so their teeth didn't need help; but I can't. They are formed already. All I can do is know it is for their good and hold their hands. Thank you God for this tiny insight into Your Heart. Please don't give up on me while I twist & complain about the tools you use to shape me....