Exfoliating the Soul

It's a fun memory, believe me. My brother Joe and I were strolling around the mall one afternoon, minding our own business and not in any particular hurry. We wandered from store to store, grabbed an Orange Julius along the way, chatted about life, the

Army, the family, politics, theology, conspiracy theories - the usual fare.

Suddenly we found ourselves passing by a kiosk loaded with a breathtaking array of Dead Sea salt exfoliating products. Since dudes aren't into that kind of stuff, we barely noticed at first. But then, a stunningly beautiful/sales-hungry Israeli girl cornered us before we could work out a suitable escape route.

"Good morning! How are you both doing today?" she asked with a beaming smile.

"Uh, we're good, how are you?"

"Oh, wonderful! Let me ask you guys something, have you ever heard of Dead Sea salt?"

We were pinned! She started to explain the unique mineral-rich characteristics of Dead Sea salt and how their products combined it with various essential oils, herbal extracts, etc. As she was explaining this (and without asking) she squirted a generous glob of one of their exfoliating lotions into my hands and encouraged me to try it out.

I rubbed my hands together and could feel the gritty sensation of the few callouses my hands had obtained up to that point in life vanishing away almost instantaneously. I'm no stranger to manual labor, but truth be told, it isn't necessarily a regular feature in my typical day. I was stunned as my hands were in short order restored to a childlike softness by this remarkable product (we didn't buy any of it though - I'm pretty good at getting out of that commitment, regardless of the awkwardness it may cost me).

This random memory popped into my mind today and it got me thinking about the spiritual life. Seriously, are you surprised? Sin produces its own callouses in our hearts, minds, even our bodies sometimes. Far too often we go about our day resigning ourselves to a program I call "sin management". What if instead upon waking we committed ourselves to an attitude and a routine that would actually do something to our souls - something that would actually scrub away the sin, purge it, cleanse our souls of the rough mess that always seems to be there? In an age where physical fitness and beauty are some of our highest priorities, perhaps we should pause to consider what Our Lord is asking us to give over to Him today that He might perform the deep cleanse we need in order to be truly restored, forgiven, and energized for the glorious life He has called us to live.