Have you ever played with a frog? Believe it or not, I never have. It wasn’t because I was afraid of them. After all, they don’t have eight legs. Bad spider joke? Sorry.
Anyway, Mamaw Jo was the reason I avoided them at all costs. She told me if I picked one up and it urinated on me, I would get warts all over my hands. That mortified me. If I was playing outside and one hopped toward me, I ran the other way. Even after I did a little research and discovered Mamaw Jo was wrong, that thought was stuck in my head. I didn’t touch a frog until I dissected one in biology class.
When I was a freshman in high school. I noticed a little knot that came up at the base of my left index finger. It was in the crack where my finger is connected to my palm. I didn’t think anything about it at first, but it grew. And grew. And grew some more. My friends noticed: “Is that a wart on your hand?”
My classmates also noticed: “There’s something on your finger. Is it a wart?” I also heard: “You been holding frogs lately?” I got so tired of hearing the comments and having my wart pointed out to me and everyone around me. So, I tried to keep the inside of my hand hidden out of view. It was awkward to say the least. There was only one thing for me to do: get rid of the wart.
I showed it to my mom. She told me that Mamaw Jo’s grandmother, Mammie Janeway, had so many warts on her arm that you couldn’t touch a place on it without hitting one. Well, when I heard that I was horrified that I would end up with warts all over my arms too. Mom said she didn’t think that would happen, but she understood why I didn’t like having the wart on my hand. We tried olive oil and other over-the-counter medicines to get rid of it. Nothing worked. My mom suggested having the doctor remove it. Being desperate, I agreed.
My doctor examined the nasty wart on my hand. He asked if it hurt or if it was in the way as I wrote since I was left-handed. I replied that it wasn’t and I wanted the ugly, irritating thing gone.
He then said: “Okay. I will burn it off.” That surprised me. I didn’t know that could be done. When I looked at my mom, she raised her eyebrows. I knew that was her way of letting me know it was my decision. I told him to go ahead.
The first thing he did was to numb my finger and my palm. Let’s just say that wasn’t too pleasant. Once I was numb, I watched him take a small wand and lay it on the wart. Once he was finished, he placed a bandage over it. After a few days, I yanked it off so I could look at my normal hand again. Unfortunately, I saw part of the wart still there. My doctor hadn’t gotten all of it. I was so disappointed and aggravated. I had gone through that for nothing.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 (KJV)
As I learned the hard way, vanity isn’t a good reason to do something. If you want your work and actions to truly mean something, then do them in the Lord. They will never be in vain.
Did I go back to the doctor to get rid of the wart? Nope. I realized that since it was open, one of the over-the-counter remedies might work. Every morning and evening I dabbed olive oil on it. In a few days it was completely gone. So, did I ever have any more warts pop up? I have a few that did, but I don’t care now. I just eat some chocolate and forget about them.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book, “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.