CAITLAIN'S CALL

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

Caitlain is a friend of my daughter Rachel’s at Westfield State College. Caitlain is one of those names which has MANY spellings. I don’t know if Rachel’s Caitlain spells it “Caitlain” or “Caitlin” or “Kaitlyn” or what so I’ll just leave it at that. Incidentally, there is a popular evangelical Christian singing group called Caedmon’s Call. I made the title of this posting a “take off” on that name.

This posting may seem like it has nothing to do with God or Christianity, and many of my postings (such as the recent one about Saturn automobile production being discontinued) don’t. I WILL say, however, that based upon the above Scripture verses, this posting actually DOES have something to do with Christianity...that is, care of your body, which is a Christian’s duty.

It’s strange how we (including me) can waste all kinds of money and effort on cosmetic products. One nuisance is acne pimples (or “zits” as some people call ’em!). I just turned 55 but I’ve never really gotten over the whole teenage acne thing. Thank God I was never COVERED with pimples the way some people are, but an acne pimple would always seem to pop up at the worse possible time and in one of the worst possible places. It never fails that if you are meeting an important person for the first time, a GIANT pimple will suddenly appear on your nose. Even worse, is one on the back of your ear, or inside your ear, or dead center on your back, and even in unmentionable places. I’ve just kept up that pimple pattern since I was a teenager and it has never gone away. My daughter Rachel, now in her early 20s, has a similar problem.

This weekend Rachel was home and we were commenting on how CLEAR her complexion was. Her face looked FANTASTIC. “Want to know the secret?” Rachel asked. And then she matter-of-factly followed up with, “Stop washing your face!”

Rachel explained that she’d recently expressed frustration to her friend Caitlain that the more she washed her face and used all kinds of cosmetic products for the skin, the more pimples she had. Caitlain told her to stop washing her face. She told Rachel she’d stopped washing her face years ago, and all pimples on the face ceased.

Now, I don’t mean, don’t CLEAN your face! When we take showers, we all get water splashing on our faces and that’s good and healthy. But frequently scrubbing your face with soap and cosmetic products actually STIMULATES the pores to produce MORE oil and more pimples!

I used to wash my own face carefully with soap, two or three times a day. A couple of years ago, I got out of that habit. Now, I splash WATER on my face a couple of times a day to freshen up, but no SOAP on it. And, until Rachel’s little story over the weekend, I hadn't stopped to think that since I’ve stopped using soap on my face I’ve had a lot fewer pimples and less oil there!

So, save some money, and look and feel better! Stop washing your face!