Risk vs Benefit Analysis

My friend, whom I 've never met but pretty sure we'd be great buddies, started this post.  Linny, over at aplacecalledsimplicty.blogspot.com wrote about taking her daughter to get her eyes worked on.  The child was angry with the mother for taking her to the doctor.  This sparked some great dialogue about children getting upset at parents for making them do something for the child's own good--even if it makes the child mad. Thus begins my story about taking Dillon to the orthodontist for work on expanding his palate.  He has the tiniest  mouth and also an underbite.  And, since he has a really bad articulation disorder, we hoped this treatment would help.  We began working, slooooowly, on this orthodontic plan 3 years ago.  The doc does a tiny tweak and then we wait 3 months before anything else.  Dillon wore a reverse headgear for several months.  Now, he needs a new appliance to accommodate the movement of his palate.  Problem:  Every single visit if fraught with anxiety and drama.  It goes like this....Dillon is happy go lucky and greets the assistant.  She begins working in his mouth, within a few minutes he is squirming and biting.  I come to try to coax him to cooperate.  A few more minutes goes by and he begins crying and coughing.  At this point, we are all frantically working to do the adjustment, take the impression with that gooey stuff, or place spacers--whatever is the treatment for day.  I kneel next to the chair and hold Dillon's mouth open and he frequently vomits.  Today was the worst.  He panicked, complete with rapid breathing and holding his throat like he was dying, turned on to his stomach in treatment chair and that was it!  No amount of rational, friendly bribing with QT hotdogs, or sweet mommy voice(but inside I was wanting to pinch his head off!) was getting through.  I marched him out of the office balling.  Embarrased--yes!  I looked like "one of those mothers" who can't control her children.  Sad--yes!  This isn't fair to Dillon. I should say that the ortho office is amazing and very very patient with him. I've placed a call to the office manager to discuss risk vs benefit.  My hospital utilizes this concept with every decision and I rather like the concept.  Are the risks/costs outweighed by the benefit?  In other words, is putting Dillon through the trauma worth it?  Will he really be that much better off with a corrected mouth and palate?  Or, have we bought in to the middle class American lie that every child has an inalienable right to perfect teeth and really this is all stupid?

Risk vs benefit can be applied in most situations.  For example, we almost moved last week. A few weeks ago we'd found "the house"!  You know, up on the hill, an acre of land(it is Texas people, we have sprawling areas of land not gobbled up YET), trees, and a house that seemed perfect for our family, but needed updating.  However, we met with our dear friend and realtor.  Thanks to the housing bust several years ago, our house was worth less than it cost us to build it back in 2007.  We'd make zero profit and then go further in to debt on the new house--making Mike 72 when a 30yr note is paid off.  The cost/risk far outweighed the benefit.  And, after sprucing up our house to put on the market, it suddenly looked beautful!

Disclaimer:  When God calls you to take a risk for Him, all the benefits outweigh the risks!  Our old friend always said "BOO-COD" Benefits of obedience-Consequences of disobedience.  In other words, sometimes the worldly risks appear to be great, but in reality, obeying God's promptings in our lives will produce much great benefit.