“The solution to pollution is dilution.”
I can’t exactly remember where or when I first heard that phrase, but I vividly remember the day it made perfect sense – right there in the theatre, in the middle of a tough surgery.
Our patient was a middle-aged petty trader, the kind of person you could tell wasn’t used to running to the hospital for things. She had been managing her abdominal pain at home for days with herbs and painkillers, hoping it would pass. But by the time she got to us, things were bad – very bad. Her stomach was grossly swollen – as though she was pregnant, her body was boiling hot, she was persistently vomiting, and her body was clearly giving up. The blood tests looked terrible, and her vital signs were barely holding.
We rushed her into the operating theatre, suspecting something serious – and we were right. Once we opened her up, we saw the problem: a perforated bowel. Her abdomen was a mess—full of infected fluid, faeces, and pus. The smell alone was overwhelming. That was when my consultant, calm as ever, said, “The solution to pollution is dilution.”
And with that, we began the washout. We poured in warm saline—bag after bag. Ten litres. And the more we rinsed, the clearer things became. That dirty, toxic space slowly started to look clean, livable. The infection didn’t vanish in a flash, but with every wash, we gave her body a fighting chance. She ended up in ICU, but she pulled through and got better.
“The solution to pollution is dilution.”
This also applies to our Christian life.
Sometimes, we carry around the messiness of life—sin, anger, bad habits, guilt, unforgiveness. And like that infected abdomen, our hearts become polluted. Left alone, it only gets worse. But the beauty of God’s grace is that He doesn’t wait for us to clean up before He steps in—He is the clean-up. Through His Word, His presence, and prayer, He begins the process of washing us clean. Not once, not twice—but over and over again.
And just like in surgery, the more you pour in, the more healing takes place.
Ephesians 5:26 (NIV)
“…to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.”
So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the mess in your life, don’t give up. Go back to God. Let His truth and mercy flood those polluted places in your heart.
Because truly—whether in the theatre or in the spirit—the solution to pollution is dilution!
Have an amazing weekend!
1 thought on “Pollution”
The more you pour the more healing takes place.
I won’t stop pouring.