Stitch Removal

Have you ever noticed that at times the smallest things pile up to become enormous situations? I mean little, piddly, insignificant things grow and blossom to become major events in ones life. This happened to me today. It all started because I have this stitch that needed to be removed from the side of my nose.

I did not wish to have a stitch there anymore. It had almost been a week and I was very over the stitch. It was not painful, it was inconvenient. It requires polysporin several times a day and a little band aid. I don't care how little a band aid you put on your face, it is a neon flashing light that says I HAVE AN INJURY. I have maxed out in creativity coming up with every reason I could invent for the band aid. I said my husband hit me. He found this annoying. I told him it made him sound macho. So he took to responding to people who asked if he had hit me,"No, you know it wouldn't do any good". I told a church group it is an injury related to my pastors reaction to a reduction in numbers for worship one week. I might have pulled that one off, but I tickled myself so much I gave it away.

But I digress. It was time for the stitch to go. I could easily drive 30 miles and keep my appointment to have the stitch removed. It seemed so silly to waste the gas and the time to have it pulled Instead l started with the husband and asked if he thought he could take it out. He looked at it with his glasses on, with his glasses off and with his glasses on again before he said "No" and went back to the paper. I went to investigate the possibilities of taking it out myself and since my vision is somewhat questionable, I vetoed that idea. Finally I had a light bulb moment, I would ask my nursing friend.

We have church programming on Wednesday nights. She has been helping with recreation and has a teenage daughter who participates so she is very faithful in attendance. I waited for a free moment and went to ask her if she thought she could take it out. She is such a sweet woman, she didn't even look, just asked me if I had the right supplies and off we went.

It turns out my right supplies and her right supplies are not necessarily the same right supplies. I produced my scissors and tweezers. She looked at them with some concern. She said she wanted a different kind of thingamajig (or some other technical term, don't bother me with details), but she would make do. This sort of made me nervous at the start. We get the equipment all alcoholed up (not liquored up, that's a different kind of story) and my nose all alcholoed up and then begin the proceedings. One minute in she says, I have to go get my glasses. Cold sweat now begins to form on my forehead. She leaves the building goes to get her glasses comes back, re-alcohols everything again and says, in an off hand kind of way, 'it's in there kind of deep, it might hurt a little'. Now I am thinking, can one get drunk from sucking alcohol from those little squares?

After a little pushing and pulling in one direction, she changes direction, puts the nose back on my face in more less the same location, and removed the stitch. When it was gone it was so anti climatic it's sad. I felt like we should at the very least get the alleluia chorus. She simply lays down the scissors. Doesn't even applaud. Zippo. Done.

Somehow this stitch reminds me of Christmas morning. I have usually spent months getting ready, shopping, wrapping, sneaking good stuff into the house to hide in deep, dark recesses, some of which consume the gifts and they are never discovered again. We are up when the boys are up and unless we exercise incredible discipline, we could be done in 30 minutes: presents unwrapped, stuff in rooms, Christmas in the bag for another year. Somehow for all that effort we ought to get a bigger bang for our buck.

So what's the point. I guess there isn't one, only I am wondering about how I focus my energies. How can I invest less time in stitch removal and more in growing in grace, furthering the kingdom, developing an impression on the world around me? How can I let go of those things that add little or nothing of importance and embrace those which make profound impressions on me and the things I value. I don't know. But I sure would like to know. How do I see through the activity to the purpose? How do I emphasize the gift given in Christmas without getting lost in the gift buying for Christmas.

My stitch is gone. My holidays are ahead of me but my heart is in the midst of searching for the way to celebrate with a deliberate joy that isn't over when the unwrapping is. And in coming up with more creative responses to band aid inquiries.