Oatmeal Soap

While visiting with a relative of mine, I was introduced to a kind of soap for washing hands that seemed never to decrease in size or effectiveness, although it was constantly being used.

One morning, the energetic seven-year-old, ready for music lessons, headed directly toward the piano. “No, no,” came the warning from his mother. “Come, wash your hands!”

“My hands are clean, Mum; my hands are clean!”

“You just had a pastry. Wash your hands before touching the piano keys.”

“OK, Mum, OK,” was the reluctant response as the youngster was led to the bathroom. Once in front of the vanity, he was able to see the color of the soap being handed him. Tearfully, he explained, “But my hands are clean. That thing in your hands looks just like oatmeal, and you know that I do not like oatmeal. That is oatmeal soap, and I will not wash my hands with oatmeal soap,” he continued with a mournful groan.

“You know you can’t touch the piano keys with pastry fingers.”

“OK, OK,” he replied, almost in tears. “But I hate oatmeal soap!” When the child finally washed his hands, we could hear him say, “Now my hands are clean, very clean!”

“Very clean,” said his mother.

And I must agree—very clean! Apparently, the oatmeal we eat works inside our body as perfectly as the oatmeal soap worked on the outside of our hands. We understand that it performs a cleansing function.

What the child’s mother demanded of him may have seemed unnecessary or even unreasonable to a seven-year-old’s way of reasoning. But after the little boy complied, he finally agreed that obeying his mother produced satisfactory results.

Sometimes, when our Father in heaven asks us to trust Him when He asks us to do some specific thing or change our ways so that we will be clean, we hesitate and make excuses. But as we yield to His loving will, we find peace and experience real cleansing.

Quilvie G. Mills