Deep insatiable itching. 

I don’t know how it is for you, but when I get a mosquito bite it itches a lot. It swells into a quarter sized round welt that is red and puffy. The center sometimes eventually turns dark like a bruise. No one else I know has a reaction to mosquito bites like this. But when I scratch them there is a moment of sweet relief. A spot in my brain is satisfied for a brief season. Sure, it’s still not a good idea. The scratching only creates more inflammation, swelling, and then also more itching. I try not to scratch them. 

After my freshman year of college I spent the summer in Osaka, Japan. And there I encountered something worse than mosquitoes. Tatami mat bugs. Tatami matting was the reed flooring in most apartments. You worked, socialized, and slept on cushions on the floor. Tatami mat bugs are invisible and live in some tatami mats and are something like bedbugs. Those bites itched like nothing I had ever experienced before. They weren’t swollen or puffy or even very red. They just itched. Deeply itched. And if you scratched them NOTHING HAPPENED. I didn’t realize how those few moments of relief were what made mosquito bites tolerable. Even a short break from the itching made it easier to go on. Even when I wasn’t scratching a mosquito bite, I knew that if I really needed it to stop, I could make that happen, however briefly. But tatami bugs never stopped itching. I eventually found a type of medicine that helped, but for several weeks I just endured. 

Thankfully, the itching from allergy shots is more like a mosquito bite. Sure, itchy, swollen, red welt. But the itching can be stopped. Benadryl cream works better for mosquito bites, but hydrocortisone cream is better for the shots. I bet there is a reason why that I could Google. But I’m trying to learn to be okay with uncertainty and the unknown. So I’m not searching for the answer… at least not right now. 

That wanting to know the answer, that’s a kind of itch too. A mental itch. I don’t know if you get bit by this bug like I do, but it’s one of the hardest ones for me not to scratch. I love to know. I love to learn. And while that can be beneficial, I can also end up on a distracted rabbit trail that prevents me from accomplishing any of the things that I have actually set out to accomplish. Focus, Colleen, focus! 

The trouble with most itching is that it is never truly satisfied. “The leech has two daughters, ‘Give! Give!’ they cry.” (Proverbs 30:15-16) This is the way temptation is. Sometimes we believe the lie that a little giving in will make the temptation go away, and it may provide some little relief. But it’s only going to come back itchier.  The giving in to temptation, even for a moment, will cause more inflammation later. You’ll discover increasing amounts of pain in the process. 

But not all itches are bad. Sometimes I feel an itch to tell people about Jesus. To share the goodness of God in my life. To go to Walmart and see who God brings to me to talk to. The call of God can also feel like an itch that needs scratched. But taking a few steps to follow that call, scratch that itch, doesn’t mean that it will go away. Instead, it may end up taking over more and more of your life. You may decide that one small act of loving your neighbor is easy enough, but eventually you’ll encounter the rest of your neighbors as well. And this is a good thing. You’ll discover increasing amounts of joy in the process. 

So today I pray, as we encounter mental and physical itching of many kinds, that we would know which ones we are called to scratch, which ones we should leave alone, and patience in the process. 

Today it’s my just my upper arms that itch. The shots aren’t as bad as they used to be now that I’m more than halfway through the buildup phase. Unfortunately, I don’t think the shots will improve my reactions to mosquito bites, but who knows! I bet I could Google search that, too.