Raw

I am getting old. I turned 30 this year, and proceeded to injure myself several times. I sprained an ankle playing basketball with teenagers, and a month later broke a bone in my hand playing tag with kids. I find it ironic that I get injuries doing my job only after I turn 30!

Well, the cast had to stay on for six weeks. It got in the way, but I made it work and pressed on. Then I finally got it taken off, and whoa! The skin underneath that cast had totally changed. I had to scrub dead skin off my hand, which was interesting. But I noticed something else.

After the dead skin was gone, I noticed that the sensations were very different between my left hand with its new pink-tinged skin and my normal right hand. Cold felt colder; hot felt hotter; my unshaved chin felt rougher. It was a bit odd for all things to feel "more." For example, when I hold my phone with the new skin, I can tell more about its texture and temperature than with the "normal" hand. It is all very fascinating.

But there is a principle in this. We accept the way things are, and build our lives around them - just as I did with the cast. And the longer that thing is present, the stranger it feels when it is gone. But things are so much "more" once that problem/issue/argument/sin/circumstance is gone. And although it feels almost raw, life is "more" as a result.

And I like it that way. What do you need to scrape off your life today?