Have you ever done something to hide something you don’t
like in your life? I have many times. Most recently I went and had acrylic nails
put on right before our spring banquet. These
covered up my less than stellar real nails but there is more to the story. This
blog covers the lesson I learned from having fake nails.  My finger nails have never been something I wanted to
showcase. I have very brittle nails that
crack and peel. I’m also a nail biter
from way back so they tend to be pretty short. My nails are something I like to
keep out of eyesight of most people.
Right before New Life’s spring banquet I decided to remedy my problem
with acrylic nails. I was pretty
impressed by how they turned out. They
were long and done in a French manicure.
It felt “out of this world” to look so glam. They served their purpose for the evening and
life went on. As I went about my life and my work duties I started
realizing I had a problem with these nails.
I no longer had the use of my fingertips. I couldn’t pick up anything off the floor, a
table, my desk, or anywhere for that matter.
I also had trouble using my phone.
I really started hating my fancy nails. I made the decision to get them
off and headed to the nail salon. Relief
was finally in sight. As the nail tech started working on my nail I thought about
my daughter’s upcoming wedding. Wouldn’t
it be nice to have my nails look good for that? I had the tech fill in where my
nails had grown and file them down shorter to give me control of my fingertips
again. My nails looked great for the
wedding. I was really happy until I realized that I still didn’t have the full
use of my fingertips and again I wanted them off. Once again I find myself at the nail salon. The nail tech cuts the acrylics down and
proceeds to remove them from my nails.
It was a slightly uncomfortable experience but I made it through because
I knew relief was in reach. The nail
tech asked me if I wanted new acrylic nails. I answered “no”. He said I would feel naked without them, to
which I answered “I will feel normal without them”. He filed my real nails a
little, put a little clear coat on them, and he sent me on my way. I was happy for just a short time after I left the
salon. I now had fingertips again and my
life would return to normal. Not so
much. What I had was razor sharp,
chipped, grooved, and weak nails. I
couldn’t wait to get home to file them down and apply some nail polish to
them. I did this but I could not achieve
very good results because my real nails were now damaged.  So what is the point of this story? Never try to disguise or
cover up something you find lacking with yourself. The real problem is still there lurking
underneath. By trying to cover my
problem up I made it worse. I now have
scarred nails that will take quite some time to heal. This is true of my life also. Anytime I have tried to be someone I was not, it left me scarred. It took a lot of
time, energy, and prayer to heal from these missteps in my life. It took a kind of silly life experience to
remind me to live the best I can as the person God created me to be.  |
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