When I was a little girl, I would often get scratched by (believe it or not!) CATS, cut up from riding my bike on a gravel road, and any other number of minor abrasions from being a little bit of a klutz. No joke, I LOVED myself a band-aid and, maybe just as much as a band-aid, did I love myself some McNess Cow Salve.
How to describe cow salve to those who have never experienced it... Well my dear friend Katie Garner says that it smells like a "hot band-aid". I personally believe it smells like the healing breath of angels. It's a beautiful golden amber in color and I think the correct word to picture it in your head is probably "ointment" or maybe "gel glob". I truly believe in the power of cow salve - it makes all minor cuts and scrapes all better.
The tin of cow salve I grew up with (which I'm pretty sure my mother owned since she was in high school) had a discolored tooth pick in it. We were very economical you see. We didn't get a new toothpick every time we need to use the cow salve. We had one toothpick that stayed inside the tin at all times so when you needed some cow salve the toothpick was at the ready! My mom would use the tooth pick to put some cow salve on a band-aid and then the band-aid would go onto the wound. I'm fairly confident that the tooth pick in the tin of cow salve was older than I am and it is probably still currently residing in my mother's tin of cow salve.
When I was in college I asked for my very own tin of McNess Cow Salve for my birthday. I couldn't have been more thrilled to open the gift and find the beautiful red tin that I associated with "all better". Lucky me! I now too can pass on the healing powers of 20 year old Cow Salve to my own future children. What great joy!
....
Sometimes though I wish cow salve could heal more than minor scrapes and cat scratches.
Sometimes I wish I could just put that beautiful golden amber gel glob straight onto my aching heart.
I've had a bit of a rough week. On top of fighting a cold, struggling professionally, and missing my sweet Kansas something fierce, we're having a few other problems on the home front. And all I really want is to put some cow slave on a 24+ year old toothpick, slather it all over, and fix everything.
But I suppose life doesn't work that way...
I was reflecting upon all this last night and wondering if God was piling it all on so that I would finally realize that instead of trying to fix everything myself, I needed to begin with a cry of help.
I like simple things. Simply put: God = Cow Salve for the Soul
:)
Love, Peace, and Cow Salve Grease,
Jess
No comments:
Post a Comment