THE BEAUTY OF BRACES

Zach Vertz

Growing up your boy had some jacked up teeth. I had a gap in the middle of my two front teeth that you could fit a Bible through, #christianjokesfordays, and to top it off my teeth came in late too. So I had to wait until I was 16 years old before I was able to get braces. My teeth looked like a beaver’s with large front teeth and a bunch of gaps. The struggle was real. But then one day my Orthodontist told me that I was ready for braces. It was a bitter sweet moment knowing that I would never be able to stick a straw in-between my two front teeth and sip my chocolate milk again but hey I knew that if I got this gap closed up that the hunnies would give your boy more attention. Don’t judge me I used to be a gentile. So I said let’s do this. I wore those braces for the next two years. Those two years were hard. I was tempted many times to give up and say they hurt too much or they were ugly or I can’t eat my food because they had just been tightened, but I kept persevering through. After two long years my Ortho said it was time to take them off. That day was beautiful. I still remember the second I got them off. I ran my tongue over my teeth without braces on them for the first time in two years; it was a magical moment I will cherish forever. Fast-forward two weeks and I began to notice that my right front tooth began to move in a way that it shouldn’t. I was shocked because my teeth had just been perfect. Then it was time for senior pictures. I had to take my senior picture with what I felt like my right tooth being an inch above my left! Let’ s just say that my senior picture looked FANTASTIC (that was a joke if you didn’t get it), my teeth weren’t on fleek. I then went back to my orthodontist to ask him what was going on. He said that when he went to put the bracket on the back of my teeth a few weeks ago that he must have pushed my right front tooth up some and because of that my tooth was gradually moving up. He then said casually, “Don’t worry we’ll just put the braces back on for 6 more months and this will be taken care of”. I was like “scurrrt, another 6 months?!” But I wanted straight teeth so I endured for another 6 months. I finally got them off and thank you Jesus I haven’t had any problems since.

You see that was a season of my life. It was temporary and wasn’t forever. Many times we go through tough things in our lives, tough relationships, tough addictions, tough personal problems but just know that these tough situations are only temporary, that they aren’t forever. Keep trusting in God during these times and something beautiful will come from it. Just like my jacked up teeth, because I persevered and didn’t give up, now my teeth are straight and I don’t have to worry about them anymore.

READ Romans 8:28 & James 1:2-4

The beauty of braces is that although braces aren’t beautiful, what they produce is beautiful. Just as James says “consider it pure joy” because through your tough situations Christ is perfecting you. Don’t give up, persevere and the result will be beautiful.

P.S.

Sadly, the hunnies never came around but hey I have straight teeth now.