Oil

I dye my hair a lot.

 

I get bored of having the same colour after too long and enjoy a change.  However, whilst I enjoy changing my hair colour regularly, I know that it's not good for the condition of my hair.  I often have dry, split ends and am often in need of a deep conditioning mask.

 

One of the best things for over-dyed hair is olive oil.  A good few spoonfuls warmed up and rubbed into the ends of my hair and left for a few hours, or even overnight.

 

When it's washed out, it leaves my hair feeling really soft and silky.  The split ends are flattened down and sealed - if only for a short while - and my hair feels smooth again.

 

In Psalm 23, David likens us to sheep and describes God as our shepherd.  One of the things that shepherds would do for their sheep was to rub oil into the wool on their heads.  Oil helped to ease out any thorns or brambles that were caught in the wool and caused pain.  It also helped to soothe any wounds, and it cleaned any dirt from the sheep's wool.

 

       "You anoint my head with oil;
       my cup overflows."

 

       [Psalm 23:5 NIV]

 

Whilst God doesn't literally anoint our heads with oil, He anoints our hearts and our lives with His love.

 

He eases 'thorns' and 'brambles' out of our hearts - those things that are causing us pain.  He heals our wounds so that they don't fester and become infected.  And He cleans us up and gives us a fresh start.

 

But in order for us to do all of these things, we need to do two things.  Firstly, we have to come to Him.  And secondly, we have to stay still whilst He works on our hearts.  Sometimes it feels as though it would be much more comfortable to live with the thorns in our hearts and the wounds that have been inflicted, rather than going through the process of letting God ease them out and heal them.

 

But if we will stay still and let our Shepherd God work on our hearts, we will find ourselves healed from  our deep wounds.  We will find the painful thorns we have carried around with us eased out.  And we will find we are cleaned up and given a fresh, new start.