Where's the Calgon?

There is nothing quite as soothing as a hot bath, especially when my muscles are aching or I'm bone tired or I'm freezing cold. I remember loving to take baths when I was a kid, too, and I would play with toys in the tub and stay in until my skin was shriveled. I can still hear Mom ... "Lord, help! Are you gonna stay in that tub all night? Get on out of there!" I don't know why, but I remember the tub as being one of the places where I would dream up stories that I would later write down on paper. It was as if the hot water released the creative side of my brain somehow, or perhaps the tub was simply a place of escape for me ... a place where the dirt of reality was washed away and replaced with the freshness of dreams.

I'm sure many of you remember the old Calgon commercials ... a super-stressed woman would come home at the end of a busy day, sink into the tub and proclaim, "Calgon, take me away!" And magically, all of her worries and troubles would instantly evaporate as the soothing Calgon embraced her in its watery world. As is true with many commercial lines or jingles, the Calgon words became a well-known catch phrase for "I can't take it anymore! Get me out of here!" I've often wondered how many women were beyond disappointed when the Calgon didn't make all the bad stuff in their lives go away ... seriously, some people believe those television commercials ... I work for an ad agency, trust me, people believe them.

I was thinking tonight as I climbed out of the tub how many times I've wished that Calgon really did work ... that I could pour a big old dose of it into my bath water and after I soaked for a while, all my troubles would be gone. Perhaps I've been buying the wrong bath stuff because I haven't found anything that works that way yet. No matter how long I soak, all the cares I took with me into the tub are still there when I get out. No matter how many times I chant, "Calgon, take me away!", I'm still in the same place I was when I stepped into the water.

As I sat down to type this blog, I couldn't help but think about the day I was baptized a little over 12 years ago and the way I felt when I came up out of the water. It was as if the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders, or perhaps I should say from my heart. My world had spiraled out of control, and my life of pretense was destroying me from the inside out. I'm certain that I would not be around today had I not met Jesus that afternoon, had I not been washed in His atoning blood and bathed in His redeeming grace.

Help me to remember, Lord, in the midst of the cares and troubles and worries of this life, Calgon can't take me anywhere ... only You can.