SALT IN THE WOUNDS!
The phrase; "It is like rubbing salt into my wounds" makes me cringe. We have salty tears which you can taste if your tears reach your mouth. Body perspiration seeps into open wounds and burns for a fraction of a second. The idea of rubbing the salt makes me think of forcing the salt to cause additional pain. Rubbing sore muscles is good but rubbing salt can be painful.

As you age some have the misfortune of thinning hair. I am one of those! One of the ladies in my early Sunday School class suggested I use salt. I would shampoo my head; towel dry; sprinkle table salt all over my head and rub the salt into my scalp. If my scalp was sunburned or itchy the salt would burn and be uncomfortable. I would then rinse the salt off and sooth my scalp with a dab of baby oil. It sounds like the salt would cleanse the pours and the oil would clog them back up again. After a bit I would shampoo my head once more. I was to do this for about 4 or 5 weeks. You know, it worked! The unclogged pours allow hair growth; I was amazed! Years later after medicines caused more hair loss I remembered this formula and my hair has slowly filled in again. Of course age accounts for a lot of the hair loss.

"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others"; Philippians 2:4. When we look to the interests of others we refrain from rubbing salt into old and new wounds. "So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets"; Matthew 7:12. When you are known by your fruits people will treat you as you have treated them. We do not live by the standards of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. Instead we are to love one another. We are children of the King and we should act and live royally. "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect";
Matthew 5:48.

Many times, for the sake of being truthful, we often hurt one another with the criticism or helpful suggestions. I remember once wearing a red dress. I new it wasn’t my best color nor the prettiest I had in my closet but I chose to wear it anyway this Sunday morning. A friend, calmly came up to me just before church and said; "If I were you I wouldn’t wear that dress ever again"! I was singing a solo that morning and of course I felt that salt being rubbed into that wound until I returned home and was able to get out of that dress and never wear it again. That was one of the longest Sunday mornings of my life!

We often talk about forgetting the past and pressing onward and upward. Then we add;
"but I just can’t forget". When we torture ourselves with the past it is like rubbing salt into old wounds isn’t it? We feel the pain all over again and depression sets in as we refresh our memories of the old me of days gone by. "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light"; Matthew 11:30. Whenever I yoke myself with Jesus I can stand tall. My shoulders are squared back; my back feels stronger and I can walk confidently. How about you? Jane Ann