Greasy Residue

Have you ever been in a hurry in the kitchen while making salad dressing, or dough that needs to rise (and the bowl needs oiled), and without thinking you grab a plastic bowl to put it in? Or you store pasta with red sauce in a plastic container?

Ugh, I hate it when that happens.

Because when you go to wash that container, the residue is not easy to remove. With glass or metal, you pretty much just need any temp water and soap, and whatever is in it just comes right off.

Not so with plastic. Oil or grease, especially from meat, seems to leave a film that just doesn’t want to let go. Sometimes even after you wash it with hot water and soap, a little of it remains. You can feel it with your fingers when you go to put it away.

Sometimes, the only thing you can do is fill that bowl with soap and hot water, and let it soak. Let the soap do its job of breaking down the oil or grease, until it’s ready to slide off. Then it’s easy to clean.

I admit- at times I leave an oily residue on other people.

This was a harder struggle when I was younger, but I am not above it yet. I’m a work in progress.

I can be hasty with my words and actions, or just not think, and say or do something thoughtless that leaves an unpleasant residue on their heart or in their mind.

And even if I take the time to try and wash it away with good words and kindness, even putting a lot of work into proving I am not really like that, residue can be really hard to remove. When they see me- they bristle. They put up their defenses.

I hate it when that happens.

I have learned that sometimes you just have to let the good words and kindness soak in for a while. Let them see you interact with other people in a positive way. Serve the Lord with all your heart, and after some time, revisit your sincere, sorrowful repentance.

Most of the time the residue will slide right off.

The point is to be intentional, not thoughtless. To be kind, not prove why I am right (no matter who I’m talking to). To keep the law of kindness in my tongue. To spread God’s love, joy, and light, not drip greasy residue on everyone around me.

Lord, help!

Psalm 141:3 “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.”

Psalm 31:26 “She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”

Proverbs 16:20-25
(20) He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.
(21) The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.
(22) Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.
(23) The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.
(24) Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
(25) There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.