Angi Aymond

This past weekend, I helped host a ladies’ gathering at our church.  It was amazing!

On Friday afternoon, as I was getting dressed, I looked down at my hands and thought, “Girl, your nails!” They looked awful.

So, I began digging in my bathroom cabinets, certain I had thrown some press-on nails in a basket a few months earlier.

Yep. Sure enough, I found a pack of matte, nude colored press-on nails. I did a quick fix of my real nails and then firmly pressed each nail into place.

Off to the races I went!

Feeling so sassy with my cute little nails, I showed up to love on ladies showing up to be loved.

Oh, we laughed and cried. We worshiped and shared. We were vulnerable and brave.

Getting home late, though I was hyped up, I tried to get to sleep. The events of the night kept rolling through the playgrounds of my heart and mind. But eventually, sleep must have found me. Because morning came and I was awakened.

After my usual early morning routine, I began getting ready for another day with the ladies.

In my bathroom, something stuck to the bottom of my foot. Eek. Lifting my foot, I saw one of my press-on nails. On the bottom of my foot!

I looked at my hands. Six press-ons were missing.

One was in my bed. Two had fallen off in my bathtub. One was, obviously, on my bathroom floor. And the others?

I laughed! And thought, “Well, that’s what you get with a quick fix.”

And then, as usual, the thought found its way a bit deeper into my heart. I was reminded of the time Jesus compared our hearts  to the four types of soil. (That’s a quick link.)

How often do we hear God’s word and use it like a temporary nail? It lands on our ears. It feels okay in the moment, in that particular environment. But then, it doesn’t stick. It doesn’t find its way to our hearts. As we go about our regular days, it falls off. Away.

If we want life change. A life changed by the power of God’s word pentrating our hearts and minds, we better get ourselves some crittal gel nails! And not just the one! (Thank you, Anjelah Johnson, for a line that never loses its punch!) That word ain’t never coming off!

I mean, that process requires a trip back to the salon for professional removal. It’s not falling off on the floor by itself. Those nails are not rubbing off in your sheets!

Friends, we don’t use God’s word to receive warm fuzzies that won’t last. Or to make points. We don’t sit under teachers of God’s word to gain knowledge alone.

God’s word changes us. It changes our hearts and our minds that we might become more like Jesus in all that we think, say, and do. For our benefit. And for His glory. To bring others to Him and into His kingdom.

So let me encourage you. Us.

When reading and hearing God’s word, don’t let it be like my press-on nails! Let it stick like crittal gel!