It is amazing what you can learn when you take the time to slowly, inhale the unique aroma of the experiences that life has so kindly laid in your hand. I kid you not, I think you can learn from anything you would allow to speak.
As a church girl I often heard, whether from the pulpit on a Sunday morning or in a classroom during a small bible study, that there are power and life in the blood.
“Yeah, a body would not survive without blood in its veins.” I would tell myself to make sense of that declaration that used to and still does ignite some great excitement from a congregation.
There is no argument on whether or not this statement is true or false, I think we can all agree that there is indeed life in the blood, whether you look at it from a scientific or spiritual standpoint.
However, sometimes images can speak louder than words.
Are you confused yet by the title of this blog? No worries let’s talk now.
So, I have had skin tags for a very long time, they first started in places that allowed them to be unnoticeable however as I got older, they were spreading all over my neck and faces.
Yeah by now, it is hard to picture my face without them. One time, my PCP burned couples that were coming out way too close to my eyes and it looked so weird seeing them gone.
Now, I have been reading some online articles and watching some YouTube videos on how to naturally and safely remove them. Some talked about cutting them using a sharp tool or pulling them with some tweezers, that last one scared the Jesus out of me, pulling what?? Heck no.
I also read about applying some ACV on it and cover it for a couple of days; I actually tried that, but it did not work for me.
Another option that I saw that seemed inviting was to tie it with a flossing line and keep it tied until it falls on its own and it was supposed to take 7 days. I must admit that I did try this last one, years ago but I was so uncomfortable that I ended up opening the knot. Not sure if it was the discomfort of looking at it or just the feel of something tight on you, something that is not supposed to be there, you know like when you have something crawling on you, your skin is just not at ease because there is a foreign presence.
This time, I decided to tie it tight enough, stop playing with it and wait until it was supposedly going to fall on its own.
I have learned some amazing lessons from this process of removing one skin tag, and I would love to share them with you.
Pre-removal
I noticed very quickly that while exploring to remove this skin tag, I experienced an unease, a weird feeling of hesitation. It is bizarre how our familiarity to something, though detriment or bothersome to us, will often fight and resist our desire to be freed from it.
Whatever it is that we have been allowing or dealing with, has a deeper grip on us, more than what we often think. Whether it is a habit, a way of life, a character trait, a job, a friend… things that we have tolerated in our environment for a while have become part of who we are and though it might be something that has a negative influence on us, it is the evil that we know, the pain that we are familiar with.
We have to definitely be careful when we notice that we have become so acquainted with something poisonous to the point that we are willing to allow its damaging sway for the sake of familiarities and comfort.
So, the first thing that I had to conquer was the familiarity that I had entertained with something that was not so great. Of course, a benign skin tag might be harmless but I am hoping that you do see by now that the skin tag can represent a habit that you may have entertained for way too long and that has become a leech, glued on you and sucking every bit of life you may have.
Removal Process
So, the time had come for me to tie it with the flossing line and I did it.
I tied it and decided to not remove it this time, at least until it falls as promised by the article I had read.
Yes, it was uncomfortable to have something so tight on my skin, but the most amazing conversion happened.
My observations were that the skin tag's color changed and picked up a darker color, then it looked dry, almost like a cracked and dry desert ground, bottom line the skin tag looked lifeless, dull and thirsty. I know that this might be known by millions of people but for me, it was an eye-opening experience, a concept became alive right in front of my eyes. I suddenly understood what happened when I saw all of my four children’s umbilical cord fall the week after their birth.
It was such a profound moment for me because I got to experience the power of blood; how it feeds what it is in contact with.
Now, I am not a scientist and I wouldn’t be able to necessarily give you a detailed observation and scientific explanation for this transformation, however it was amazing to see how dry, lifeless and dull that skin tag became as it was cut from its blood supply: me. The power of Blood had never been so vivid until that day.
So, a couple of days later though the articles had suggested about 7days, mine fell. It took about three days. 3 days later, the skin tag fell off my skin, without a fight, submitting itself to its new fate.
I often say that: “we grow what we feed, and we feed what we entertain” and this dictum came alive right in front of my eyes.
Who would have thought that a skin tag could give us a life lesson?
What are the skin tags in your life and what is the source of life that has been feeding it?
What are the habits, characters, friends, mindsets…that have been destructive in your life? And how have you been feeding it instead of starving it?
We cannot hope to be freed from a certain bad behavior while we entertain the behavior or the environment in which the behavior is thriving.
The good book actually talks about this, in Matthew 18:8-9
“And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”
As attached as we can be to certain things, certain environments, certain types of people, is that commitment worth losing ourselves? My skin tag reminded me of those three profound truths:
1. It is uncomfortable to get freed, but it is necessary
2. It takes resilience and patience to do so
3. We cannot be freed from something that we continue to feed or entertain
So yeah, thank you skin tag…
Naïké...
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