Luke 10:34

A Drop Of Oil

Pouring on them oil. Luke 10:34.

That was what the Good Samaritan did to the poor hurt traveler by the wayside. He poured oil into his wounds. And why did he pour oil on the wounds? It was to soothe them and heal them.

Now I think one of the most splendid bits of work in the world is the work done by doctors and nurses. I think it is a very fine thing to be able to go about the world healing hurt people, making sick people well. But you know there are other hurts in the world besides the hurts of the body, and some of these are harder to bear than any bodily pain. Well, you can all be healers of these hurts, you can all carry a little oil about with you to soothe these wounds.

As I was reading these words, I thought of a special kind of hurt that boys and girls are specially able to heal. What do you think it was? Well, it was the hurt that is caused by strife, and envy, and unkindness.

The Romans of old had an unusual belief about the hazel tree. They thought it had the power of bringing peace and reconciliation; so they burned hazel torches at weddings in order that the new home might be happy and free from quarrels. And the Roman mothers used to bind hazel twigs at the back of their babies' heads so that the little ones might have hazel eyes, because they believed that the people with hazel eyes had a happy, sunny, peace-making nature.

Now your eyes may not be hazel. They may be blue, or grey, or black, but still you may have the happy, sunny nature that makes peace and joy in the home.

For do you know what spoils a home? It isn't the big troubles and sorrows as a rule. It is the little frictions the little strifes and jealousies, the nasty tempers, the bitter words, the discourteous acts. And those are the things the boys and girls can smooth and heal with their drops of reconciling oil.

Now if you are going to be a healer of wounds there are two “don'ts” and two “do's” you must carry along with you.

And the first “don't” is Don't repeat any nasty thing that is said to you about another. If anybody should say an unkind thing about another, don't let it go past yourself. The chances are that it is not all true, and even if it were, to repeat it cannot possibly do any good and may do a lot of harm. Those who repeat unkind things are stirrers up of strife, not healers of wounds, so make up your mind to repeat only the kind and the nice things about others.

The second “don't” is Don't quarrel yourself. There was a minister once who had charge of a very quarrelsome congregation, and a friend asked him how it was he managed to avoid being drawn into some of the disputes.