“When it rains, it pours,” probably doesn’t mean what you think it means, or at least it didn’t. For most of us, the idiomatic phrase means that when things go bad – they get worse. However, the phrase is a slogan and it belongs to the Morton Salt company and it doesn’t refer to the above definition.
You’ve probably saw the slogan on your last trip to the grocery store or in your own pantry. It belongs next to one of the best known symbols in the United States. Known as the Umbrella girl, she wears a yellow dress, carries an umbrella in one hand and a blue cylinder of salt under her other arm.
I used to wonder the reason for such a negative slogan? It turns out, that it’s not negative at all. Y’see back in the day, salt used to cake-up or clump-up whenever there was moisture in the air (cue Pacific NW). And in the early 1900’s, the Morton salt company food scientist discovered that by adding a food additive, the salt would not cake-up. It would still pour freely, hence, “When it rains, it pours.”
Here in the Pacific NW we make jokes about our liquid sunshine. For others, it’s not so funny, not even healthy. And so, as I sit here writing, I see the rain outside my window (it’s been raining this whole week), I say a silent prayer; “Lord, would you please share to me an anti-caking additive so that I can flow freely today.”
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
May the words of our Lord encourage your today. May we be used today without the worry of being unusable.
I’m just sayin’…
(1) “Morton Salt.” Morton Salt. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. <http://www.mortonsalt.com/our-history/history-of-the-umbrella-girl>.
MikaMind 