Hello Faith Pals,
I hope you are well and surviving the hot spells. We thank God for the gift of water!
Last Monday I wrote about a detergent, Tide. Today I thought I would go back to the topic, talking about soap. The term ‘spic and span’ comes from a sixteenth century Dutch sailors’ term ‘Spiksplinternieuw’ for every spike and splinter of wood on a new ship. This was Anglicized to ‘spick and spannew’ and meant something that was brand new, and spotlessly clean. Soap was invented in about 2800 BC by the Babylonians, from goat fat and ash, but in 600 BC the Phoenicians, really marketed it well and they sold it to the Greeks, Romans and others. They marketed it to the Gauls as a laxative! By the eleventh century, soap was so popular in Venice, that a tax was placed on it, leading to a black market in soap!
Sometimes inventions happen in unexpected ways-even with soap. In 1879, a soap maker at the Procter and Gamble company had no idea a new innovation was about to surface when he went to lunch, forgetting to turn off the soap mixer. When he returned he found more than the usual amount of air had been incorporated into the batch of pure white soap that the company sold under the name “The White Soap.” Fearing he would get in trouble, the soap maker kept the mistake a secret and packaged and shipped the air-filled soap to customers around the country. Soon customers were asking for more ‘soap that floats.’ After company officials found out what happened, they turned it into one of the company’s most successful products, Ivory Soap.
While soap is a wonderful invention, we have to be careful that purity doesn’t become a lopsided virtue! We have often heard the saying ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’. Where did that expression come from? Sometimes we hear it quoted as though it came from the Bible, but it came from John Wesley (in a 1778 sermon). Sadly, this expression has meant that some Christians believe that if one is not clean, then they are not Christian. Jesus said ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ We are to love others, and that means the unwashed, those on the streets, those living in poverty.
Maybe, alongside the box of detergent from last week, a bar of soap could go near our prayer corner, or near our Bible to remind us to keep a ‘spic and span’ heart. Such a heart, by frequent washing with prayer and the reading of Scripture, would be free of the daily accumulation of the grime of greed and gossip, of the dirt of discrimination, judgement and divisiveness.
Here is a story that fits in; it is from Paulo Coelho’s blog (you may know the name-he wrote The Alchemist, and many other books):
‘A young couple moved into a new neighbourhood.
The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging the washing outside.
“That laundry is not very clean; she doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.”
Her husband looked on, remaining silent.
Every time her neighbour hung her washing out to dry, the young woman made the same comments.
A month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband, “Look, she’s finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?”
The husband replied, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”
And so it is with life… What we see when watching others depends on the clarity of the window through which we look.
So don’t be too quick to judge others, especially if your perspective of life is clouded by anger, jealousy, negativity or unfulfilled desires.’
https://paulocoelhoblog.com/?s=dirty+laundry
News: we keep Alan and Fredrica in our prayers, as they await the next step regarding treatment. We continue to pray for Rohini and Jaya, Shirley, Margaret, Lex and Leora, Jack, Noy, Martin and Elv, and everyone else.
To close with a quote from Paulo Coelho: ‘You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.’
And a prayer:
And a verse of Scripture:
‘There is gold, and abundance of costly stones;
but the lips informed by knowledge are a precious jewel.’-Proverbs 20: 15
Blessings and love
Barbara
