A few days ago I was burned by a hot pot that erupted when I tried to stir it. A scalding blob of squash soup landed on the back of one of my fingers. I ran to the sink immediately and rinsed it in cold water, but the damage was done. Within a couple of hours, I had a blister the size of a grape on my finger. I thought, “I’ll pop this blister and be done with it. Easy peasy.” However, upon some rudimentary research online I discovered that popping or even pricking it is the worst thing I could do. I learned that burn blisters are different from the blisters we can get from a stiff pair of new shoes or working with the pruning shears for too long. Burn blisters actually serve the purpose of protecting the burned skin underneath, and popping them can lead to infection.
Everything in me has wanted to pop this monstrosity on the back of my hand, but I am choosing to wait patiently for my body to work the way God designed it and for the blister to dissipate in its due course. I began to see the parallel to Advent (weird, I know.) But our sin has burned us, and we want so desperately to speed up the process of healing by our own means. The blister is ugly and uncomfortable. However, the injury beneath what’s visible requires the Great Physician to heal and restore the damage done by the “burn” of our sin. And so we wait through the Advent season, rubbing Aloe Vera on the blister, keeping it loosely covered, and resisting the temptation to fix it ourselves.
Sometimes NOT DOING something is the hardest thing, especially when we think we can fix it ourselves. But during Advent we choose to do nothing, sitting in the discomfort of our own sin, looking straight at the monstrous blister, choosing to wait purposely for the Healer.
Take a Five Minute Walk Today
Walk with Him today, examining your own “burns” and asking Him to come in all of His miraculous ways and heal what you can’t heal on your own.