Scratching Where It Itches

“I do a lot of traveling in my work and I sleep in a lot of different beds.” This is what I told the doctor last week. For the last two months I have been scratching a lot. First I thought it was mosquitoes, but then I realized that I was not outside that much and I didn’t remember getting bitten. I then thought it was Poison Ivy, I had been for a walk in the woods at a State Park, but I hadn’t wandered off the beaten trail. I never had a problem with Poison Ivy before, but I had never scratched like this before either, so surely it must be something I had never had before. I bought the over the counter spray and rub on cream that one uses for Poison Ivy but the itch never went away. Sooo I finally did what I should have done in the beginning. I made the doctor’s appointment and went. That’s when I found out that I had something that I never dreamed I would get. I had “Scabies”.

They say that the word Scabies comes from the Latin word for scratch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scabies). Trust me when I say that scratching brings some relief but only for awhile and then you have to scratch again. It is a nasty problem that I am hoping I have gotten rid of but I won’t know for sure until at least one more week. I guess this is one of the risks of traveling a lot. You have to take the bad with the good and it is always possible to get things you didn’t ask for.

As I think about it, I must admit that I wish that I would itch like this to love the Lord my God with all my heart soul and mind. I wish I itched like this to love my neighbor as myself. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just wake up each morning itching to live the life that God had in store for you today. Just think if I was always itching to forgive others, to do what is right and to love mercy and justice. I sadly admit that I don’t always itch like that. There are times that I do but not always. Itching and scratching are two different things when it comes to the Christian life. I don’t always itch to do the right thing but I need to scratch just the same. Sometimes the scratching, in doing the right thing even when we don’t feel the itch, primes the pump for the itching to start. The Apostle Paul tells us not to be weary in doing good. He doesn’t say wait until you feel like it to do it.

Today I need to scratch even when it doesn’t itch.