Oatmeal Cookies

I went to the dentist today.  Big deal, you say!  Well, actually it was.  I hadn't been to the dentist in 9 years.  It happens when you don't have dental insurance or the money to pay for it yourself.  So, I've tried to take care of my teeth the best I can and just hope they would be O.K.  I've had teeth that have hurt quite a bit through the years but after a while, they've stopped hurting.  In fact, until a couple of months ago I had a tooth that was hurting quite a bit.  Then one day, half of it fell out and it stopped hurting.  As weird or gross as that may sound, it was a blessing because the pain stopped.

So, when I learned that one of the benefits of my new job was dental insurance I was pretty excited.  I could get my teeth cleaned for the first time in 9 years.  Today was the day.  I was nervous.  No offense to dentists but a bad experience with a country dentist as a kid has left me terrified.  And, I was embarrassed because it had been so long and I was a bit nervous about what  condition my teeth might be in.

I went to a dentist one of my co-workers recommended.   The staff was great and the hygienist told me my teeth looked pretty good for 9 years.  She cleaned the bottom teeth and told me I would need to come back for the top but first the dentist would do his check-up.  

Dr. Winskill came to my chair and introduced himself.  This was the first time we met.  He asked me if any of my teeth were bothering me.  "Not anymore," I said.  And I told him about my tooth.  "Mmmm,"  he said.  "I don't really like hearing that."  He started checking my teeth and said to the hygienist.  "Yes, we will need a pin and crown in #14."  As soon as he got out of my mouth, I said,  "I won't be able to do get that fixed but that's O.K. because it really doesn't bother me."  "Mmmm,"  Dr. Winskill said.

He finished checking out my teeth, straightened out my chair and said, "Are you a good cookie baker?"  What a strange question!  I looked at him oddly and said, "Yes.  I think I am."  "Do you make good oatmeal cookies?"  (I'm thinking this is really weird).  "I do!" I said.  "Well, I love oatmeal cookies," he said.  "I will trade you oatmeal cookies for a crown."

I started laughing because of course he was joking!  "I'm serious," he said.  "Oatmeal cookies for a crown."   His hygienist looked at me and said, "He's serious."  I started crying (I know!) and said, "Why would you do that?"

Dr. Winskill looked at me and said, "Because I want to fix your tooth.  You haven't been to a dentist in 9 years and your teeth look pretty good except that one.  I want to fix it.  You bring me cookies and I will fix your tooth."  And he just walked away.

This is a dentist who has never met me before.  He doesn't know me.  He doesn't know anything about me.  Why would he do this?  Why would he choose to bless me in this incredibly amazing way?

I choose to believe that God is still telling me that He is journeying with me.  That He is taking each step with me.  That He is providing for me.  That He is and will continue to take care of me.  It doesn't matter what it is  - a job that gives me meaning; my stuff from Casper to Tacoma; a tooth; or that place of my own that I'm praying for in August.  God has it covered.

And Dr. Winskill.  I just hope he loves my oatmeal cookies as much as I will love baking them.  I think oatmeal cookies might become my favorite, too!

Matthew 6:25-34   "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.