I was recently watching the movie, “The Radium Girls.” I had never seen the movie before, but I had seen a musical play version my students performed while I was a teacher. After watching the movie, I watched some clips about the real history of the Radium Girls. This is not the happiest story in America’s history, but I do believe this story can be a great metaphor for our Christian walk.
For those who don’t know about this part of history, it is about girls from the 1920s who worked in a factory where one of the main elements in the factory was radium. Radium was an element and ingredient used in many different things in the beginning of the 1900s. Some people believed this was a miracle cure for certain illnesses like cancer. During this time, the girls were making watches that would glow in the dark. This would be used by soldiers during wars.
Girls were mostly chosen for this project because they had dainty hands, and they would be better at designing the watches. These girls were instructed to actually lick the paint brushes in order to make better designs as well as to be faster. They often would get paid by the watches completed. The only problem was this radium was actually very toxic and the girls would be covered inside and out in the stuff. They were ingesting it when they were licking the paint brushes, but their outsides would also glow for hours. They would walk home, and their clothes and skin would be glowing. They would start to also use it cosmetically on their faces or their fingernails. It was at the time, very trendy, to have their bodies and clothes glow in the dark.
This radium would end up causing the deaths of many women. The factory tried to hide this fact for years. This would not be a pleasant death either. They would suffer much pain. Sometimes the whole jaw of the girls would be removed because the radium would first impact the women’s jaws as they were putting the paint in their mouths. I’m sorry this was not a great visual, but I also want you to understand just how much this substance really impacted these girls, and how much it really did rot them from the inside out. The substance the girls really enjoyed because it made them glow was slowly destroying their bones and killing them.
The scariest thing was many of the girls initially would never really know or understand what was happening to them when they started to feel illnesses and started to lose teeth. The company, trying to cover it up, would often have the company doctors tell these girls they had syphilis, which was considered a very shameful STD to suffer from at the time. Eventually, there would be word out about what radium can do to your body and the girls started to be more cautious with radium while working near it. Sadly, it would take a huge court case for businesses where these young girls were working to be more aware of these deaths and make changes to stop it.
This reminded me how sometimes we in life can become distracted by items in life that can glow. I feel as though I have brought this topic up a lot, but I know how important it is to be avoidant of the shiny things in this world. One of the most toxic and biggest distractions, I have recently struggled with, is money. I have recently been very focused on creating financial security. I don’t mean to say it is a bad thing to want to be wise about our money, but it is important to not be so obsessed with gaining a lot of money, so I can have just the many clothes and trips I want to go on. I want to make sure I am wise with my money so I can use it for God’s glory.
The topic of making sure to avoid the items of the world is a very common topic in and amongst the Bible. One excerpt is Matthew 16:25-26, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” This is a good reminder that if we during our time of living on earth are more focused on the items of the world and are more consumed with the love of this world, then we will lose all in the end.
My challenge for you this week is to spend time praying about finding any toxic items in one’s life. Remember, this could be even something small, but it could be a much larger piece of your life. For example, it could be a slight toxic obsession to food, to being overly concerned about your finances, to a relationship with someone who is bringing you farther and farther away from the Lord. Whatever it is, I do hope the Lord makes it very clear to you before it rots you out from the inside.
Colossians 3:23 Blog 