(Don't)Scratch that itch

I have recently started playing football regularly again for the first time since living in Papua New Guinea. It’s a little bit different. All the players wear shoes for one thing. The grass isn’t boggy from the wet season. In fact, the grass isn’t grass at all, it’s, well, I don’t actually know what it is. It’s artificial grass anyway. The benefit of this is that the pitch never gets waterlogged. The downside is that when you fall over you get carpet burns. And I fall over a lot. Recently my leg has been recovering from a big cut on my knee which has formed a big scab. It’s got to the point in which it’s irritatingly itchy and the more I try not to think about it, the more it’s all that I can think about.

Now, I know that you’re not supposed to scratch it or pick it off, but why then do I feel desperate to do exactly that? And how do I know that I’m not supposed to, other than that’s what I was told as a child? Which got me thinking, why do scabs itch? I reason to myself that it must be because the skin underneath has healed and is trying to get rid of the scab (so really, I’d be justified in scratching it off right?). Seeking justification to scratch my itch, I decided to google it. It turns out no-one really knows why scabs itch, but the itching is part of the process. That’s right, it’s part of the process, not a sign that healing has come to an end. In fact, picking off a scab early can slow down the process or even prevent the wound fully healing. You probably already know that, but it wasn’t the news I wanted to hear.

As I wallowed in the disappointment of having no justification to scratch my itch, I ended up thinking about all the times in life when I had felt discomfort to the point that I really wanted to find a way to escape the situation, but in reality the situation was helping to shape me, grow me, and even heal me. God often uses difficult or painful experiences to help us grow, but I’d never thought of them necessarily being part of a healing process too. It turns out that emotional and mental healing can be uncomfortable and painful, just like physical recovery – but this pain isn’t something to be avoided, it’s part of the process. That won’t make pain any less next time I have to go through it, but it will provide encouragement to be reminded that the process is worth the pain.