i am all about metaphors lately and i’ve found that’s how God likes to teach me. leave it Him to be creative.

so anyway, i have a pretty severe allergy to nickel and other metals. even to the point in which i have problems wearing some jeans cause of the button, etc. this allergy has always kept from being able to wear fun jewelry. if i could, i would wear huge gaudy jewelry all the time… but alas, any jewelry i wear has to be nickel-free, sterling or even gold in order for me NOT to break into a rash.

a couple of weeks ago, one of my co-workers was wearing a fabulous ring. the picture doesn’t nearly to it justice. so sparkly… shaped all funky… and matches everything. i just kept looking at it and telling her how awesome it was! but i knew i could never, ever wear it because it wasn’t nickel-free and if i did, i would surely get a wicked rash.

a week or so later, along with a sweet little note, she had placed the ring on my desk. i was so excited! and immediately put it on. i wore it all day. and to my amazement, i didn’t have an allergic reaction. could this ring somehow be real? OR could i have somehow outgrown my allergy? i continued to wear it clear into the weekend with no reaction.

on monday, i decided not to wear it. good idea. because around 3am tuesday morning, the time in which i am writing this post, i was wakened by the dreaded rash. 36 hours after i took it off. and if you know anything about metal allergies, the rash a reaction leaves behind is red, bumpy, a bit oozy and PAINFULLY itchy. one that is difficult to heal.

i got to thinking about something… if i hadn’t ever put on the ring, i wouldn’t be in this present situation. that’s totally not supposed to sound like Lord of the Rings but let me go a bit further with my metaphor by asking, “why do we put on things that we know will hurt us?”

PRIDE. BITTERNESS. ANGER. UNFORGIVENESS. SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.

our spirit, our heart and our mind are allergic to the things that aren’t of God. when we wear these things, they give the enemy an inroad to our hearts. the opportunity to wreak havoc and if there long enough, cause a red, bumpy, oozy and painfully itchy rash. at first, not detectable from the outside, but given enough time, will come to the surface.

until it heals, i will have this rash for a good week or so. instead of as a reminder of the ring i wore, i am going to use it to remind me of the heart issues i have been wearing that i need to keep removing. that i need to be healed from. a reminder of what i have put on that i shouldn’t have.

what are you currently wearing that you need to remove in order to heal?

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13