Welcome back! I trust ya’ll excepted my little break for family day weekend… and digging out from all this snow we’ve been having! I was a little neglectful in writing, but we’re back with another muse or two for you this week. It’s finally getting warmer here and the chickens have started to venture out again: hurray! I also started some seeds indoors… so spring must be coming. Here’s hoping!

Yet for now, the snow is still piled up on the ground and we are still doing indoor things… most recently visiting the dentist for the first time since moving here. I know – the dentist isn’t first on my list of cozy things to do on a winter’s day, either… but it’s gotta be done and so we went. And, of course, I had a cavity or two that needed to be filled. And so a second visit (and likely a third) will be warranted.

Which is where my muse for this week comes from. There I was, sitting in the dentist chair with my mouth gaped open, my head back upon the headrest, blankly flipping my views from the ceiling tile to the masked Doctor’s blinding headlamp to the hygienist’s most perfectly tailored eyebrows, thinking to myself: “How on earth do I know that what these people are doing in my mouth, to my body, is necessary or needed?” (As I said, it’s a new dentist office for me, and they didn’t seem to be very forthcoming with explanations…)

Now, don’t come at me, I went to the dentist, after all. I was sitting there in their chair, allowing whatever chaos was happening in my mouth to occur. I got poked and prodded by the metal scrap-ey things and glowed and cured under the light that the doctor’s hide from but don’t protect you from. I listened to the conversation from the experts on yes, ring 3 clamp and this number 3 tooth or whatever…. but again, it was a language I didn’t really understand. I have no expertise in dental care. And so I simply went along with whatever they suggested and kept my mouth – open – in this case.

Which had me thinking about a few things. Number one: How do we feel about being left in the dark about things? No one but God knows our futures. Are we okay with that? Do we speak up, inquire, advocate for the unknown? Or do we trust that whatever God has planned for us is for the best and we should just book the appointment and sit in the chair? As per usual, I don’t have the answer, I am simply pondering my thoughts. For me, I have been assured through past experiences that God’s got whatever may be ailing me, and so, I am pretty confident trusting that He’ll pull me through whatever lies ahead. For others, it may be a little harder. Either way, it doesn’t hurt to inquire and ask questions to help us decipher His plan for our lives. The Bible, prayer and discussion with believers help. Mittonmusings has chatted about these things before, and likely will muse about them in the future. Still, it was a contemplative thought as I sat there gagged by the crazy spit suctioning thing those dentists flash at you.

My number two thought, as I counted dots in ceiling tiles, was do we “talk over” people? The doctor and assistant chit-chatted about their work – and there I was sitting, listening, having no clue as to their goings on. Like the mechanic saying it was a “thingamabob” attached to the “whatchamacallit” making a noise from the “fenderbenderwhosit”. I have no idea… just make the car run again and don’t charge me a crazy amount to do it! Do you and I talk in riddles and parables? We use words like “sanctified” “righteousness” and even things like “worship” and holy “thees” and “thous”. Have you ever caught yourself speaking a whole new language when it comes to “spiritual things”? Can we make following Jesus more “user friendly”? Should we? Are there traditions that we hold dear just for the sake of tradition? Is it hindering someone else from drawing closer to God and His will? I’m guilty as charged. Try teaching kids about Bible stories… they’ll tell you what they think they know because someone told them once using big words. “Hark the Harold Angel sing”: who’s Harold and why is he singing? They’ll say.

Words are hard. Unknown futures can be harder. I think our job, therefore, is to listen and trust and communicate wisely and simply. The gospel isn’t hard… but we make it that way. We add in man-made rules, and traditions, and words, and pie-in-the-sky quotes that don’t make sense or are difficult to follow through. The truth is God loves you, I need to love you, and that’s all there is. The rest we’ll work out later. As for me, I gotta go brush my teeth and make another appointment for a chair and another look at some well groomed eye-brows! Happy musing, my beloveds!