Dental Work
I've decided I don't like saying I grew up poor. I guess I've come to expect certain
stereotypes... being Appalachian, from Kentucky, naturally blonde (or at least I used to be), a
woman, and yes, growing up with limited financial resources, I can see how the word poor
would fit in the mix. But we weren't poor in the ways that count. We didn't have a lot of
money, but we never went hungry. We grew our own vegetables, fruit, beef, pork, and chicken.
And we never lacked any of the necessities of life like clothing, shelter, electricity, heat, or
transportation. Our clothes were often hand-me-downs, but my mother took great pride in her
laundry, so they were clean, crisp, often starched and ironed to look as new and fresh as
possible.
And for the record, we Appalachians DO have our teeth. Every hillbilly cartoon character I've
ever seen has teeth missing, so I wanna make that clear! We didn't have money for braces,
though, so I have crooked teeth. Braces would have been an extravagance, and getting my teeth
aligned and straightened was low on the list of priorities. I had a severe underbite as a kid, that
DID need fixing, so Mom and Dad took me to an "old-timey" dentist.
When I say "old-timey" I mean old-timey like Pappy O'Daniel in Oh Brother Where Art Thou.
If you've not seen the movie, Pappy O'Dainel was played by Charles Durning. Pappy was
heavy-set, wore a white suit and hat, had a high-nasally southern accent, and he was the epitome
of the 1930's southern gentleman carpetbagger politician, complete with opportunist quotes of
scripture and questionable ethics.
I'm not saying my childhood dentist was of the same character, but my memory paints him in
hues of that throwback to another time. He was a smoker, a throat-cancer survivor, and because
cancer took his vocal folds, he spoke with a mechanical voice box by holding a receiver over
his throat as he talked. I don't remember my reaction to the sound of his tinny monotone words,
but I can be sure my mother gave me a look that said, "Don't ask questions!" Pretty
traumatizing for me as a kid!
But he was affordable and competent, if somewhat intimidating. He did a filling for me with no
Novocain- "it doesn't hurt that bad," he said, which may explain the high pain tolerance I
have as an adult-and because my lower teeth were so crowded, he pulled a molar with what I
will swear to this day was an actual pair of auto mechanic's pliers. For my underbite, he
fashioned a sort-of prosthesis that he called a "bite-block." It sat over my lower front teeth and
over time forced my upper teeth out over the lower ones.
To his credit, my teeth look fairly normal, and the no-numb fillings lasted thirty years or more. I
remember him mixing the filling material with his instruments and packing my cavity with it.
At that time, fillings were an amalgam of mercury, silver and other alloys. I'm not saying I have
enough silver to dig up my grave for, but there was enough in my mouth as a kid that my teeth
hurt when cold weather came. Today, the more aesthetically pleasing white dental fillings are
prettier and don't freeze my mouth, but they also don't last as long as the old amalgam did. That
mixture stayed with me for decades.
It makes me think of the mixture that I am... It's lasted for decades, too. I am a combination of
my mom's and dad's DNA and they, a mixture of their parents, and so on back to the beginning
of time. My friend, Linda, has been researching her family history, and she posted an
illustration on Facebook called "Ancestral Mathematics" which said, "For you to be born today
from 12 previous generations, you needed a total of 4,094 ancestors over the last 400 years."
That's a lot of DNA!
Psalm 139: 15-16 tells us "My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret
place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
In the Hebrew, the word translated as "woven" means to deck with color, to variegate. The
Amplified Version (AMP) says, "intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with
many colors] ..." The picture is of the complex embroidery that was used for garments and
tapestries in the Temple. And that's how we are formed in the womb. Unique, a work of art,
beautiful and utilitarian, pleasing in appearance and in usefulness.
We aren't static, though; we are not the same today as when we arrived fresh in the delivery or
birthing room. We are also an amalgam of the people who are impacting us every day. It's why
it is so important to choose your friends, associates, and influences carefully. We tend to think
of influences as the people we see, face to face, on a daily or weekly basis, but it is also who
you listen to or read on social media, through podcasts (like this one!), books, television, and
where you hang out and do business.
In my childhood we sang a little Sunday School song called "Be Careful." Be careful little eyes
what you see..., be careful little ears what you hear, be careful little tongue what you speak. In a
world of a million voices, how do you discern what should be added to your DNA, what can be
mixed together like the dentist's amalgam, to make you the person God has created you to be?
Here are some questions I ask myself before allowing a word, an opinion, a perspective, to
permeate my identity.
1. Is this voice consistent with the character of Jesus?
I love how the Apostle John introduces Jesus in the first chapter of his gospel. John says, "We
have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace
and truth." Those two words: grace and truth. Are the people we are listening to or reading
speaking truth? Do they speak truth without belittling another person? Are they respectful?
Does their tone resonate with care and love?
When the Holy Spirit speaks truth to me, He doesn't belittle or shame. His job is not
condemnation, but conviction that shows the way to choose what is right. Grace and truth allow
room for improvement.
In a culture that delights in division and a political climate fraught with disrespect and dishonor,
truth and grace in partnership is rare. Look for it in the voices you listen to. Cultivate them
together in your own conversation. Too little truth is permissive. Too little grace is legalistic
and judgmental. Cultivate relationships with people who give you both truth and grace in equal
measure. And look for the same in the voices that influence you.
2. Does this voice edify?
Edify is a good old King James word. Ephesians 4:29 in the NIV says, "Do not let any
unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up
according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Building up and being beneficial
is to edify. Are the voices you listen to building you up? Are they beneficial for your growth?
Your personal development?
Have you ever been with a group of people, friends or acquaintances, and when you leave them
you feel depressed or slightly off, maybe a little discontented or annoyed? I spent time over a
period of months meeting with a group of women in ministry, and when I left, I always felt off,
with an "I don't get it" or "What just happened?" kind of vibe. As I analyzed my time with
them, I realized they often cloaked gossip and dissention in the guise of prayer requests! The
old adage that if they'll talk about others in front of you, they'll talk about you in front of others
comes to mind. I wasn't worried about what they would or could say about me, but I didn't
want to be party to that kind of talk. I stopped going to the meetings and eventually left the
organization.
On the other hand, I have been in the company of non-believers who were expert edifiers. Many
of the personal development books I read are not written from a strictly Christian worldview. I
find them edifying because they increase my knowledge of business and productivity, and they
help me grow the gifts God has given me. I've also read books written by believers and non-
believers who, perhaps in an effort to be inclusive and appeal universally, will refer to God as
Creator, or a higher power or the Universe when talking about how we are gifted and how God
works on our behalf. I don't dismiss the value of what they can teach me because they express
their understanding of God differently than I do. I read with MY worldview and dismiss what I
know conflicts with the truth of scripture. I am grateful for what I learn from them, and my
prayer is that they come to know Jesus and experience His truth and grace!
Voices that edify you will enable and empower you to grow and build up/benefit/edify
others.
3. Does it draw you closer to God?
My late son, Sam, loved the movie, Chariots of Fire, and he had a couple of Eric Liddell quotes
on his Facebook account. My favorite is this one: "We are all missionaries. Wherever we go, we
either bring people nearer to Christ, or we repel them from Christ." I think that is also true of
what we consume. It will either draw us closer to Jesus or take us further away from Him.
I had to take a hiatus from television for a while. It was a matter of time-time I somehow
couldn't find for Bible study or prayer, but could find for Netflix? Right. -And a matter of
content. The content did not compel me to live a holy life. God is in the business of
transforming us into the image of Jesus. I notice I wanna shy away from words like "holy."
Culture tends to wanna characterize our pursuit of holiness as "holier than thou." But Holy's
only comparison point is a Holy God. Comparing my holiness to yours or yours to mine or
anyone else's is illogical and pointless! I am not the standard. Culture is not the standard. God
is! I want the things I fill my mind and spirit with to bring me closer to God, to increase my
knowledge of and imitation of Jesus.
You could say we are the dentists of our mind and spirit! We are mixing elements together from
what we consume... what we read, hear, absorb from culture, what we choose to entertain or to
educate us. Does what we are using to fill the void make us more like Christ? Does it edify us
and others, and does it bring us closer to God? If so, those are fillings that will last and make us
rich in knowledge and faith.
Father, in a world that is hyper-connected and where knowledge is accessible with a keystroke,
help us be wise in what we choose to consume. You have given us gifts and abilities and
You've made truth available to any who would seek it. I pray that we would stay close enough
to our Good Shepherd to recognize His voice and follow Him. I pray for discernment and self-
awareness so I am not led astray by voices that are loud or charismatic or entertaining. Above
all, help me use all that I learn to make me more like Jesus. In His name I pray, Amen.
