Leeches in Burma Fall Off Traveler in Herbal Bath
William Arnot wrote this: "A traveler in Burma, after fording a certain river, found his body covered all over by a swarm of small leeches, busily sucking his blood. His first impulse was to tear them from his flesh: but his servant warned him that to pull them off because he might expose his life to danger. They must not be torn off, lest portions remain in the wounds and become a poison; they must drop off spontaneously, and so they will be harmless. The native prepared an herbal bath for his master and directed him to lie down in it. As soon as he had bathed in the herbs the leeches dropped off. We must bathe our whole being in God’s pardoning love--that’s the whole parable. We must realize how much we have been forgiven.
From a sermon by Davon Huss, The Spite House, 11/23/2009