SPLINTERS

If you are one of my regular ten blog readers, you know that I am a firm believer in “no good deed goes unpunished”.  And if you are reading my blog for the first time, I have a post about that very thing in my list of posts. 

Yesterday was such a beautiful Sunday and loving to take photos of children the way I do, I decided to go to the church Easter egg hunt.  There were tons of children, lots of beautiful weather, many eggs, wonderful food, and great fellowship.  Our egg hunt is in a grassy spot pretty much right at and near the cemetery and playground.  How’s that for a location?  As the egg hunt was winding down and folks were preparing to head back to the basement for the food, I began my walk back to the church and was noticing the cemetery as I walked.  There was a tombstone that had two flower pots in front of it and both pots had blown over.  Being the good citizen that I sometimes am, I decided to go and set them upright.  One was in a basket, one was not.  The first one out of the basket uprighted pretty easily.  The basket one was more of a challenge.  I twisted and pushed and finally got it to work; however, in my efforts a splinter from that old, weathered basket got into my finger….actually two splinters a bit apart on the inside near the top of my little finger on my right hand.   All this descriptive information is important. 

My cousin, a retired fireman, was walking by as I sat on the steps of the old church trying to pick them out….with no luck, I might add.  I asked him if he had a pocket knife and of course, being a retired fireman and a redneck, he did.  He kindly opened it for me and handed it to me.  I looked at it and it looked a huge xacto knife…I carefully picked a little then he and I decided I would safer to just leave the splinters alone.  I decided suffering was best for a while until I got home to my safety and straight pins.  From my prior experience, safety or straight pins are the perfect tools for splinter finding and removal.  

When I got home, I got under the light to see good (older folks need a lot of light), saw both splinters and dug a little, confident the pins would do the trick.  Bad news.  They didn’t.   What did I do, you ask?  I remembered my grandmother’s home remedy that worked for me when I got a REALLY LARGE fencepost splinter UNDER my fingernail.  Not just under, but under all the way down to the cuticle with nothing near the top of the nail.  It was a huge, long black splinter.  Nasty looking.  Even a medical doctor wouldn’t touch it.  Really.  So my memaw told me to put a “piece of fat meat on it” and that meat will draw that splinter out.  Now THAT splinter REALLY hurt.   Being redneck that I was and in the pain I was in, I didn’t hesitate to get a piece of bacon fat, put it on my fingernail, and bandage it up good.   Let me tell you, that’s not an easy thing to do, fat is slippery. It took at least two days for that to work but eventually it got my fingernail in such a shape that I could stick my trusty pin under that nail without pain.  Too much information, you say?  You get a splinter down in your fingernail all the way to the cuticle and none showing at the top and see you what you think.  It’s pain.  Really.  Bet you’ll be remembering this and headed to your refrigerator for that bacon.

Even though that was years ago, it was still fresh in my mind so I came home and put some salt pork fat on my finger.  I took it off about bedtime and was able to use a pin to get that large splinter out.  I’m telling you, it hurt.  Badly.  My little finger is comparatively small to the rest of my larger body.  Throbbing pain.  Bad news is that the smaller splinter was and still is very embedded.  I put fresh meat on—doesn’t that sound gross—for overnight and this morning was still not able to get out that splinter.  So what do I do?  I go to the internet because you know what that commercial says…if it’s on the internet you know it’s true.  Duh.  The internet said many things but the one more reasonable to me was to soak it in vinegar for 20-30 minutes.  So yes, I soaked that finger in vinegar this morning.  When I took it out, it was all pruned up just like I’d been soaking in a tub.  It just smelled like I was canning pickles.  I got my pin again and was able to ease some of that pruning away but I STILL could not get that splinter out. 

I went to internet suggestion that I like #2.  It said make a paste of baking soda and put it on the spot and bandage.  I did that before my cardio class.    The internet also suggested that you could buy something that begins with an “I” at the drugstore.  I stopped there on the way home and asked and there is that something.  The druggist rattled off the long name immediately but they didn’t have any and would have to order.  I told her if it was not out with any of my other manipulations I would call for her to order in a day or so.  

I’ve just taken the baking soda bandage off and washed off the baking soda.  Ouch!  That little spot REALLY does hurt badly.  And you know from my other blog posts that I have a big tolerance for pain.  It hurts.  I looked closely and was able to see that the tiny black splinter was nearer the top of the skin than before.  I got my magnifying glass and pin and was able to remove the splinter.  It was soooo tiny and black…..but what a punch that tiny thing did to my little finger.  I was so very happy the splinter came out.  Now I’ll use the Neosporin and heal up the mess I’ve made of my finger and keep infection from coming.   I was so excited to have that thing gone.  I was letting it continually be on my mind because of the pain it was causing me.

As I suffered through this pain the last 24 hours, I was reminded this morning that  I,  along with all of you probably, allow “things’ to become embedded in our lives.   Or maybe they sneak up on us before we know it.  Foreign things that have no business in our lives.  Little things that cause a big pain.  Everybody at one time or another allows things to become embedded in their lives—emotionally, spiritually—you name it, it’s there.   I’ve been there and you have , too. 

In these cases, the remedy doesn’t come with baking soda and a pin.  It comes from a talk with the Lord and a genuine healing with His forgiveness, His comfort, His mercy, His grace, and His love.    Why don’t I go to Him first when I have these things embedded in my life?   Because I’m stubborn and think I’ll just do it on my own all the time knowing that He is always ready to lead me to the right remedy for whatever my problem is.  He pulls out those splinters of sin, fear, broken pieces, pride, and so much more. That’s just what He does.  Why?   Just because He loves us so.

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.  He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.  He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.  For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.  As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:8-12

Amen.