After washing and rinsing, you ran wet fingers through wet locks and if it squeaked you knew it was clean.

It could not pretend to be clean. It could not hide in a multiple of theories about cleanliness. It could not proclaim on the basis of some formula that it was clean. It could not fool you by a philosophical straw man that it was clean.

It had to squeak.

If it didn't squeak it wasn't clean. If it did, you described it as 'squeaky clean.'

I don't know whether anyone else could hear your hair squeak or whether it was a conversation your hair had with you alone. It didn't matter. To you it was an infallible rule of cleanliness. Dried and combed, if it squeaked after washing, you knew your hair would shine.

Some people are wonderful to talk with because they squeak.

I can transfer the same infallible rule to my own thoughts and words. If I have been speaking with someone or if I have been asked to give an opinion on a Bible story, I sometimes ask myself afterwards 'did my words squeak?'

Some people are wonderful to talk with because they squeak. They leave you feeling washed clean and shining. There are authors you seek out and read because they squeak. They carry you into deep water and bring you to the shore feeling you have been washed inside and out and now you squeak.

They make us feel clean through the words they use and the squeak becomes our own because we take their thoughts on board.

They echo the words of Jesus, "You are already clean because of the words I have spoken to you." (John 15:3) When Jesus speaks, his very words make us squeaky clean. They shine ... and so do we.

 

Print this Article Send it to a Friend Heartlight encourages you to share this material with others in church bulletins, personal emails and other non-commercial uses. Please see our Usage Guidelines for more information.	HEARTLIGHT Articles Just a Minute
	ALL of Heartlight        --- ARTICLES   A Taste of Home   Caring Touch   Diary of God   Hope for Life   Hope from the Hill Country   Just for Men   Just for Women   Leading in Hope   Love, Sex & Marriage   Making Life Work   Prayer for the Nation   Single...Not Alone   Special Features   Timely Truths   Together in His Grace   Two Minute Meditations        --- DEVOTIONALS   Charles Spurgeon   Daily Wisdom   My Utmost for His Highest   Praying with Paul   Quotemeal   Today's Verse   What Jesus Did

© 2004 Elizabeth Price.

Title: "Squeaky Clean"
Author: Elizabeth Price
Publication Date: January 16, 2004

Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Higgs A beloved humorist offers a unique and clear-sighted approach to understanding those "other women" in the Scripture, combining a contemporary retelling of their stories with a study of their mistakes and what lessons can be learned from them.

Elizabeth is a team writer for "Just a Minute" e-zine.

More Heartlight Feeds

Get Heartlight articles and devotionals by email FREE every day! Daily Heartlight Today's Verse What Jesus Did! Quotemeal

More Information