S05E023, Splinters and Infections, Andy B 2 Minute Video
While cutting back some hedges I had a sudden, sharp, whack to my hand from a branch that had whipped towards me. Unfortunately, there was a thorn on said branch which banged into my hand. The remnants of a thorn were still stuck in my glove! so I got a good chance to examine the offending article – it looked complete, so I’m not overly worried right now about anything remaining in my finger.
However, having worked around wood for long enough, I also know not to do nothing!
It was a long time ago that the wife of a carpenter – who also happened to work in a pharmacy - gave me some great advice. As she pointed out herself, if her husband went to the doctor or hospital for every splinter he got, he’d never leave the place! Her advice – use some paste, usually used to treat warts, as it pulls any splinters that might be there, as well as any infection. And this is something I have done many times.
But, the whole process of feeling that pain, applying my ‘go to’ the paste under a plaster - and the solution I’ve frequently used - got me thinking about how we can allow hurt, bitterness and resentment to grow.
We justify our anger, or hatred, because what that person did to us was cruel and unfair, so we will not forgive them; “they don’t deserve it”.
We justify the hurt we caused another because they just needed some hard truths speaking to them. Why should I say sorry – “they started it”.
There is, of course, never any justification we can use for doing not forgiving people, or causing someone pain and not doing something about it. Jesus died for things He could not have done. He was definitely without fault – not something we can say of ourselves in this lifetime!
Get stuff sorted: it isn’t always possible, or even appropriate, to go and say sorry to the person we have wronged, but it is always possible say sorry to God.
Just a thought...
Andy B
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Transcript
So, another Andy B 2 Minute Video. Now, on my left hand, forefinger, I have a plaster. The reason for that? As we were doing some gardening yesterday, I got quite a few scratches. And, unfortunately, at one point I actually got a thorn in my finger. Now I'm fairly confident the whole thorn came out. However, I'm not not silly about such things and there are various things you can do.
0:28
You can go to a hospital, I suppose, or a doctor's surgery. And they could probably surgically check, or remove, what might be in there. I'm confident there's nothing in there. So what did I do? I washed the area, used some antiseptic cream. But the other thing I learned, a long time ago from somebody who worked, she was actually the wife of a guy who was a carpenter. And he was forever getting bits of old wood in his hands. And she said, well, if he, if he went to hospital, every time he got a splinter, he'd never leave hospital. So she uses this paste, I'm not even going to try and pronounce the stuff. It's available in your pharmacy. And it's actually made for warts. It pulls out the, the infection, too, which is really cool.
1:05
So I put this on. You basically load it under a plaster, stick it on, and it pulls out any splinters. They come to the surface, pull 'em out, and it also works really well on, on the infection. And I've used this quite a number of times. If I think I might have a splinter, if I think I can't get it out, if it's wood in particular, I shove this stuff on for a bit and make sure I haven't got a problem. And I've never had a problem yet.
1:28
Now, this got me thinking about things that can grab us, unwanted. So this thorn? It didn't exactly, it wasn't, I didn't hold it, it didn't fall on me. It was a branch. We were cutting some hedges. It whipped and it hit my hand. The thorn went in, it broke off. We found a thorn it was complete, which is why I'm confident there's no particular issue, but it really hurt! So I've also got the pain from the thing being whacked into my hand which isn't very pleasant.
1:54
But how often in our lives do we have these situations where some't comes along. It kind of slaps us. We get stabbed by this little tiny thorn, and a little pieces leftover and we have this thing growing. Now I'm not going to gross you out with details, but it's the same in our lives.
2:07
If we hurt somebody, and we don't say sorry. If they hurt us, and we don't forgive them, this stuff starts to grow and it becomes a problem. So we need to put it, like I've done, get some of this special paste, stick it under a plaster.
2:19
Well, that paste is the Holy Spirit. It's called forgiveness. It's called healing. It's called God's hand at work.
2:25
So, if someone's hurt you, will you forgive them? And if you've hurt someone, will you go and say sorry to them, and make it right if that's appropriate so you don't have a really bad finger.
2:36
Just a thought.