Chipped Teeth & Sore Tongues

I chipped a tooth Saturday night.

I would love to tell you that I chipped it in a rough-and-tumble hockey game, or by hitting my face on the ground as I dove to rescue a baby falling from an apartment window… but it wasn’t nearly that exciting.

I was eating a mint, and apparently my tooth couldn’t handle it.

I had just left a wonderfully sweet time of prayer with the women at my church where we heard testimonies, shared our hearts, wept together, praised and thanked our God, and felt our hearts united in the Lord. It was a really great time of fellowship, and I was honestly invigorated!

When I was in my car afterward, my throat was a little dry, so I popped in a mint. I’ve done that hundreds, probably thousands of times over the course of my life. Sometimes (okay, most of the time) I crunch them when they’ve shrunk a little. (Admit it, it’s fun.) When I crunched this one, I felt something oddly hard, and couldn’t chew it. So I swallowed it.

Afterward, I thought for a fleeting moment that perhaps I chipped my tooth. Then I laughed at the thought because it was just ridiculous. But I rubbed my tongue across my front two bottom teeth just to check, and sure enough, there was a chip. Whoops!

And I guess if the warnings from my childhood are to be believed, it’ll stay in my belly and help grind up all my food forever.

Anyway, without seeing it, it felt like half my tooth was gone. I felt panic work its way up my body, but I couldn’t check the damage because I was driving. It definitely felt like a trip to the dentist was in order, and perhaps a call as soon as I got home, even. I could just imagine how terrible it looked. I would never be able to smile again, and that would be really hard because I love to smile.

Smiling’s my favorite.

Well, I kept rubbing my tongue over that spot, convinced it was really bad. When I got to a red light, I looked in the mirror in my visor, and imagine my surprise when I couldn’t even really tell where it happened.

I was relieved for sure, if not a little disappointed. All that anxiety for nothing, I guess. When I got home, I showed my daughter and my husband, and they couldn’t even tell it had happened. But I sure could.

My tongue kept rubbing that spot, and guess what? Now my tongue is sore because that chip left a sharp edge. And though I wanted to stop, I found my tongue rubbing it without me thinking about it. I even woke up with a sore tongue Sunday morning!

At church, my mouth was dry after interpreting (I’m sensing a theme here…). I wasn’t sure I wanted to have a mint again, just in case I got another chip, or made this one worse. But I braved it- firmly telling myself no crunching allowed. And you know what? I pulled it off. I enjoyed that mint with nary a new chip in sight.

Sometimes during mundane things we’ve done a thousand times before, we get chipped by something unexpected. It can even happen after having a wonderful, spiritual evening with other people.

Perhaps the chip comes in the form of an offhand comment from another person that we’re not sure how to take, or a perceived attitude or mood aimed against us. And instead of talking to the person to sort it out, we swallow it down. And it sits there, grinding away.

If we’re not careful, we’ll rub that chip in our minds and make it out to be much bigger than it actually is. Overthinking can be an expensive habit that costs us relationships, and makes us fearful and distrusting of others, because they might cause other “chips” in the future.

If we mention the “chip” to someone else, they may think nothing of it. But if we continue to mentally “rub” it and focus on it, it will most likely make other areas of our heart and mind sore. Hurt feelings can spread rapidly, and cause us to assume we know others’ motives and heart without asking them.

What we really need to do is pause, look at the chip in the light, and see it clearly. When we’re tempted to “run our tongue over it again”, we should instead give it to God. He’s our spiritual dentist who can grind that chip down and get the sharp edges off of it.

Don’t let “chips” keep you from enjoying mints in your life. Don’t dwell on them and make them bigger than they really are. Look at them in the light, and let God grind them down so they aren’t so sharp. And then talk to the person who caused it, and be willing to work through whatever their response is.

With God’s help we can heal, and enjoy mints again without fear!

2 Corinthians 10:3-6
(3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
(4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
(5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
(6) And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Psalm 25:17-18
(17) The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.
(18) Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.

1 Peter 5:6-7
(6) Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
(7) Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Ephesians 4:32
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.