Cleansing the Sticky Hands

Do you ever feel like a sticky negative thought or habit or emotion totally sticks to you?

 

Sticky Hands

 

Last Sunday before church, I decided to look in the rarely-ever accessed cubby hole/closet on the stand in the chapel to see if I could find choir music I’d heard about. I saw some black binders that had potential and reached out to grab one — and put my entire palm directly into an extremely sticky rat trap. And it stuck.

 

I flailed! I flicked! I flopped!

 

Finally, it frisbeed off my hand.

 

I looked at it. There obviously wasn’t a rat on it. But there were plenty of other kinds of remnants trapped on it. It was kind of revolting.

 

I looked at my hand. Sticky glue “dripped” from my palm and fingers. I began the long trek, flat-palmed, to the bathroom.

 

My husband stopped me first and asked what was going on. I thought I was passing through the chapel nonchalantly, but apparently not. After he got a glimpse of the hand, he was willing to move on. I continued my trek to the bathroom.

 

I just couldn’t get rid of it — the memory of it and especially the evidence of it.

 

I finally reached the sink and started soaping up and washing, washing, washing. Confident I’d invested enough effort, I grabbed some paper towel… Which immediately stuck to my hand and fingers.

 

I started washing, washing, washing again.

 

A friend, sensing some dire catastrophe, offered me some hand sanitizer. With renewed hope and vigor, I scrubbed with the new stuff. She waited while I wiped my hand on another piece of paper towel. Not as bad, but still sticky!

 

I needed to start playing the organ soon and knew my fingers would stick to the keys!

 

A woman from another ward I didn’t know walked into the bathroom with a container of Clorox wipes. She laughed as she sat them down on the counter saying she felt a need to bring them that day to wipe down her Sunday School tables and chairs.

 

I asked for one. I couldn’t believe I was going to use it on my skin, but I hoped it could cut through the resistant stick. Clorox wipe, paper towel, return to Clorox wipe, paper towel, and so the cycle went until the paper towel didn’t stick anymore.

 

I made it back into the chapel to play the organ with a few moments to spare and a really smelly, but mostly sticky-free, hand.

 

When Habits Are Stuck

 

Anthony and I are working on removing a sticky habit from our lives. I’ve been washing it with soap and water for years but the sticky still stuck. We’re trying something a little more aggressive/geared towards removing all the residue from our lives. And the paper towel is sticking less and less. It’s been a fun and exciting process for us even though it will require dedicated effort for some time to remove this sticky habit from our lives.

 

He that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

 

Sometimes the only way to remove our hand’s sticky mess is through the One who cleanses, restores, and heals.

 

[T]urn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless . . . having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day.

 

His is the ultimate cleansing that removes all the yucky things that stick. I’m grateful for the micro-lessons that remind me that He can and will cleanse my hands and my heart.