Sometimes the most mundane tasks provide wonderful insights into the kingdom of heaven. Recently, I had one such insight. I had used strips of double-sided tape to secure a large oriental rug to a laminate floor. Within a short period of time, the top of the tape became so soiled, that it no longer stuck to the rug. Meanwhile, the bottom side of the tape clung fast to the floor. With some effort, I was able to remove a little of the tape from the floor, but the adhesive was really stubborn. The tape began to look awful, gathering dirt and dog hair, and I had no idea how I was going to get it off without damaging the floor.
Finally, I remembered that we had some liquid solvent in the house that was made for just such a problem. Following the directions on the bottle, I applied it to the adhesive and it worked perfectly. After a few minutes, I was able to scrub off the old adhesive and grime, and reveal the original, untouched beauty of the floor.
While I reflected on how grateful I was for the gentle reminder that the solvent was at the back of my cleaning supply closet, I also thought about how after I’d applied the solvent, I had to wait at least 60 seconds for it to dissolve the adhesive before I could scrub the grime away. This reminded me of a sentence from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “In patient obedience to a patient God, let us labor to dissolve with the universal solvent of Love the adamant of error,—self-will, self-justification, and self-love,—which wars against spirituality and is the law of sin and death” (p. 242).
