medication, no expiration...celebration?

If there's one talent I have, it is injuring myself. I've never seen skin so prone to paper cuts as mine is. Today, I was rushing out of the restroom and took out my knee with the door frame. If I understand it correctly (and I'm no Biology major), when a part of the body gets injured, blood rushes toward it. It's like the little white blood cell 'army men' (aka your immune system) grab their gear and head to tackle whatever problem is at said 'ouch zone.'

The bad thing that I find, especially with paper cuts, is that they tend to burn and hurt far worse than the reality of the injury. I've never heard of a person dying from a paper cut, nor losing a limb.

Even though the damage done by these small slivers of tree (paper) is tiny in the grand scheme of things, it still often calls for a bandage.

So how was your day? Was it good, was it bad, did you get injured, did you fail at something?? I find that the adventures of my day too frequently end in some form of 'boo boo.' It's at that point that I just need a hug, or to vent, a good ole' listening to from a friend, chocolate, and so on and so forth. I can admit that when I get injured, physically or emotionally (forbid it be my pride), I look for a solution.

This is good I think, this looking for an answer. It's like math applied to life, only different. My pain+my remedy=me fixed. Wouldn't you agree?

And I'm not quite sure, but I would say it's safe to bet that chocolate does not have a 100% success rate of fixing the odds and ends, the ups and downs, and the oopsies in our lives. In fact, my favorite Snoopy band aids even fail. Moms are great for lots of things, but even as brilliant as they are, they can't always fix the problem.

Well, why is it that you can acknowledge the validity of most of the remedies I've listed and rambled on about? You've probably used them or known someone who has. That's great. We see that time and time again, humans form patterns because they see success. Great. There's nothing wrong with mommy's kissing boo boos.

What is wrong is when mommy's kissing boo boos or chocolate or a new shirt, etc. become your sole remedies. Because, I'll be honest...a lot of our remedies can turn into reinforcing negative circular habits when we hit the really down days....or even worse, we can snap.

Comfort foods, for instance, are things that a lot of people turn to. I'll admit that I sometimes eat excessively when I'm down. But often the people that eat comfort foods because of low self esteem or a bad chain of events end up gaining weight. And based on the negative social stereotypes and the health factors that come with gaining weight, people often get even more down. ...and what might they do when they get down?....eat. Do you see the negative pattern forming here?

The same goes outside of food to venting to people. Have you ever noticed that 'chain complainers' and pessimists (those people who nothing ever seems to go right for) end up complaining their friends away? Most people do not want to be around constantly negative people. It's human nature. Often people who make complaining a habit give themselves more to complain about because their friends become 'busier' and less able to spend time with them. Let's face the truth, even the nicest of people have a quota for how many complaints they can stand in a day.

Bad habits are, well, bad habits. They often only increase the injury.

So here's the good news to your paper cuts, your bad days, your heartbreaks and so on: you can form good habits. Find something real to turn to--something that never fails. Stop depending on yourself or other people who have limited strength. No, eating a piece of chocolate isn't a bad thing, but don't let that be the first thing you run to, or what you truly expect to solve all life's problems.

Run to God.

Golly, He's got to be up there shaking His head when we keep getting ourselves into negative situations. It's likely there's a 'hello, I told you the answer...I'm here for you' thought process going on up in Heaven. That's just it. God told us to bring our burdens to Him. Look at the stories throughout the Bible--even outside of the commonly quoted verses like bringing our burdens to Him because His yoke is light--the Bible is full of this reinforcing fact. Stories like those of Ruth, Jonah, Job, Abraham, David, and many more bare evidence that when they leaned on something other than God, their crutch shattered and let them down. But when these people turned to God and faced their weaknesses, shared their battles, and let down their pride...then things worked.

God doesn't just bandage your wounds, He heals them. Down to the deepest hurts of being betrayed, cheated on, beaten...whatever it may be--there is A God (the only God) for that.

So stop smothering friends, overeating, etc.--these remedies are fine in balance, but you should run first and foremost to God. Vent to Him, share with Him, journal your prayers. Do what you need to relieve the burn from that 'paper cut' of life.

Be like the blood does in your body, when you know you're injured (emotionally or physically), know your goal--God--and rush toward it. And in His arms, tackle whatever problem is at said 'ouch zone.'

It does not matter the size or cause of your wound. God can fix it all. Share your burdens with your Heavenly Father, who will never let you down, even when others do.