Salt & Light

  Have you ever had a craving for cookies straight from the oven?  Oh man, you can hardly wait until they come out so you can eat one.  So steamy soft, it falls apart in your hand.

YUM, now I am hungry!   🙂

  Have you ever accidentally forgotten one, teeny tiny ingredient?  So miniscule it really shouldn’t matter, right?

SALT.

  How can something so strong, so salty, so NOT sweet, make a soft gooey chocolate chip cookie taste amazing?

  The gorgeous cookies you just made with their forgotten salt, are worthless. 

No good. 

Ready to go in the trash can. 

   We need salt in our recipes, don’t we?  Salt brings out the flavors in cheese, chicken, even cookies…….

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.    Matthew 5:13

    We live in a society that loves to be fed what they want to hear.  We surround ourselves with like-minded people, we get angry when someone posts something on Facebook we don’t agree with, asking for a dislike button or engaging in name calling.  Now even Google is in on it, filtering our search results on our past searching history, because perish the thought that we stumble across something that is contrary to our personal belief system. 

This begs the question: What right do we have to be offended at someone else’s opinion or beliefs in the first place? We certainly have the right to disagree with another’s stance, but to take a personal affront to the beliefs of another speaks to something else entirely. It’s as if we’ve adopted the type of selfish mindset that expects everyone to shape their every thought and response to what we’ve chosen to believe.  Who are we to assume that our opinions hold more value than those of another? In reality, each of us possesses the equal right to believe as we wish. We may not agree on faith or politics or a million other things, but we can be centered enough to realize that differing opinions are not a call for anger and harsh actions.  {Source}

  How can we grow, stretch, learn and change, if we are never exposed to the “other side” of life?

  If we read a blog, Facebook post, or a magazine article and it makes us feel something, good!  Lets all look inside for some self-reflection. Maybe, just maybe, we are feeling something because it applies to us in some way, like it or not. 

  Ever since the letter to iPhone mom, I have heard a lot about “Mommy Guilt”.  I didn’t know we had a special version of guilt, but apparently we do now!

  While I agree, that we Momma’s need to give ourselves, grace, grace, grace…..because we do a really hard job, but what if it’s not just Mommy Guilt?

   In my faith, we call that still small voice, the Holy Spirit. Quietly speaking to us inside, helping us not sway too far to the left or right, like those loud bumps you hit if you go too far towards the shoulder or middle line on the road.

  Maybe that guilt we think is so negative, could turn into life changing growth? Painful at first, but then the payoff…a better, well-rounded us!

   But apparently, we’d rather run off to be coddled and caressed by like-minded friends that will assure us, that we are indeed right, and the articles we read are very, very wrong. 

And off we go, on our narrow-minded path, feeling better once again, until the next thing comes our way that dare make us FEEL something……….

Salt is gritty, it is painful and burns when you get it in a cut, it sluffs off dead skin cells when used in a scrub.

  But Salt also makes things taste good, it is a natural healer and pain-killer, and it brings to light, new skin from under the old.

  Don’t you see? Salt is good, even though it hurts when applied.  Even though its rough and gritty.

Even though it tastes too salty by itself.

It has a purpose, one to bring you hope and a future.

Are you allowing “Salt” in your life? 

Simply

Allowing the

Lord

To work.

  The next time something stings, may we welcome it, look a little deeper inside, because after the sting, comes the healing and cleansing Salt offers, by simply allowing the Lord free rein to work and move in our lives.  

  I think we all could use a little more Salt with our Light…….

~T

 

Mark 9:50 “Salt is good for seasoning.  But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”