The dental hygienist had almost completed her work on my mouth, all that remained for her to do was polish my teeth and add, at an extra cost, a fluoride coating. But before she proceeded, she gave me a brush and asked me to demonstrate how I brushed my teeth. I took the brush and moved it from left to right and then up and down. She grabs my hand, gently, and stops me before I am finished demonstrating how I brush. She says, “You need to brush at a 45-degree angle.” I followed her instructions, but inside my mind I said, “Nobody told me!” Seventy-six years old and this was the first time I had been told about brushing at a 45-degree angle.
While I waited in the lounge area for my wife to pick me up, the words of an old church song came to me, words that were fitting or timely for our times. The lyrics which I remember the late Rev. James Cleveland singing were, “I don’t feel no ways tired. I’ve come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me that the road would be easy. I don’t believe He brought me this far to leave me. I don’t believe He brought me this far.”
Let me speak some words personally to you so you cannot say, “Nobody told me” as you forge ahead faithfully through whatever you are facing in your life from a political, physical, psychological, social, economic, or spiritual perspective. Listen! Whatever you are going through, the Lord, yes, the Lord, He will bring you through. And not only will you come through, but you will be brought through better. Be encouraged today! Be blessed!
“When you pass through waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame kindle on you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” (Isaiah 43:2-3a)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King