What is your foundation?

A couple of weeks ago, as I sat eating my dinner, I was suddenly aware, as I was chewing away on a mouthful, that there was something hard and sharp in amongst the food. I froze in dread, and sure enough after a quick inspection, discovered that I had broken a tooth and filling in my mouth.

I finished the rest of my dinner, expecting more to break off. But thankfully, it all seemed safe enough, and although it felt like there was a gaping hole in my tooth, everything seemed nice and secure.

I’m not a huge fan of visiting the dentist. I don’t have the nicest of teeth. I should have pushed for a brace as a teenager, and it didn’t help that I had a dodgy dentist for a few years, who liked to just give unnecessary fillings. (He was actually on the t.v. programme, Panorama a few years ago and struck off because of this!!) I also had a wisdom tooth removed at the hospital at the start of this year, that wasn’t a pleasant experience at all!! I refrain from sharing a photo. 😂

This time I was happy to just leave my tooth alone. It wasn’t causing me any problems, and I had the excuse that because of covid restrictions, I could put it off for as long as possible.

However, a week later, more of the filling began to start crumbling away. Everytime I tried to eat something, more and more broke away from the tooth. I began to realise, that I was maybe not going to get away with putting my visit to the dentist off. In fact, I actually discovered at certain times when I was talking, a huge part of the tooth/filling would become loose, and I could feel it fall out slightly and my tongue would have to hold it up in place. The last thing I wanted was to be left with toothache for several days, or a gaping hole. So, before it got any worse, I was really brave, and scheduled an appointment with my dentist.

To my surprise, I managed to leave the tooth alone for the few days until my appointment. It would be so tempting for me to play about with it, until it had completely broken off! I think the fear of any consequences was enough for me to leave it alone.

As I drove along to my appointment, I got a bit braver and began to play about with the tooth. I could feel lots of tiny bits crumble away. I began to play over in my head what I’d say to the dentist and how I would describe what was happening. (this is normal behaviour for me, but according to Calum, this is weird and no one does it!)

As I thought of my crumbing tooth, I thought of how often it feels like things can be crumbling down around me. I’m sure this year we have all felt to one degree or another, things crumble round about us. Whether it has been simple things, like best made plans, just cancelled time and time again, or more serious things, like relationship problems or health issues causing our world to crumble.

Have you ever felt like your very foundations being shaken to the core? Where everything that you ever knew, is called into question? Where everything that has ever held you and your family together, has crumbled away to nothing?

As a child, I learned the chorus ‘the wise man builds his house upon the rock’. It tells the story from Matthew 7 about a wise man and a foolish man. The wise man builds his house on solid rock, and the foolish man builds his on the sand. When the wind, rain and floods come along, the foolish man's house falls down, but the wise man's house remains standing. As a child we would shout and bang our feet off the floor as we sang ‘house fell down!’ It was always a popular request because of this.

However I wouldn’t say as an adult it would be a favourite experience of mine. When it feels like the storms of life are battering down around you, and the rain just keeps on coming down and the floods keep rising up. Oftentimes, it can feel like everything is crumbling down.

I’m sure many people have felt like this during different experiences in their life, I know I certainly have. But in those times, what is your foundation built on? Is your life built on your own success, chance, or simply just hoping for the best? The bible refers to this as the sand. It’s moveable, everchanging. One thing I love doing at the beach, (beside hunting around in rock pools!) is walking around in the wet sand in my bare feet. I’m sure if you have ever done this you will be aware, that before long, your toes and feet have disappeared from sight and are underneath the sand.

Our circumstances, success, feelings, are all changeable. As the storms of life batter against us, these things are not always strong enough to hold us up. To see us through.

The bible describes building your life on the truth of God’s word, the bible, as solid rock. Whatever life throws at you, when everything seems to be crumbling around you, if your foundation is firmly standing on the rock, you will not be washed away.

“No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”

1 Samuel 2:2

“For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock?”

2 Samuel 22:32

“He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.”

Psalm 62:2

At my dentist appointment, it was discovered that the problem was some decay had gotten in underneath my filling, and it had all begun to crumble away. After an x-ray, I was informed that the decay had actually gone into the nerve and I was going to need another appointment for root treatment! 😩 Thankfully this has been postponed till the end of January!!

If you had to examine your life, when circumstances have gotten underneath your ‘surface’ and affect your life, would you be unmoved as your faith is not in your own ability, but in God’s? Or would your world crumble down around you, like my tooth, as your very foundation is affected right into its source?