Toothy

 

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement

Toothy

The zoo attendant held three great tiger teeth in her hands. Each tooth was an inch or more wide and at least four inches long, including an extensive root. In case anyone ever had any doubt those teeth confirmed what we already knew. Huge teeth combined with their enormous paws, which no doubt concealed some wicked claws, meant we certainly wouldn’t want to meet a tiger in the wild.

 

I thought of the saying that a person is “long of tooth.” That means our gums have receded as we age, exposing to view more of our teeth beyond the gum. The tiger teeth made me think of other expressions we hear. We ‘sink our teeth’ into something. We can be ‘armed to the teeth.’ Fortunately, unlike Tigers, we don’t use our teeth to bite when we feel threatened. But we can ‘sink our teeth’ into Bible study to draw closer to God. We can be ‘armed to the teeth’ by praying and eliciting the help of God for our problems. And as we age, we can ‘sink our teeth’ into the Bible so that in even if our gums recede, and we become ‘long of tooth” in our old age,  our love for God does not recede. It grows.