Some Salt Please

 

"We are called to be salt. And sometimes salt stings.” My sweet friend said.

Her words spoke truth into my troubling thoughts. Along with being a light, we are the salt of the earth.

The Sound of Music has the famous song that goes -

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

The medicine go down, the medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way

Sugar looks like salt, but taste and functions differently. In the Bible, Jesus doesn’t say we are the sugar of the earth. We aren’t just to sweeten things up to make things go down easier.

Sometimes salt does sting. 

I had been troubled by something that I had to do. To not do it would be wrong. However, it didn’t feel very loving. It bothered me.

Yes, sometimes salt does sting.

My husband Ben’s trick for sore throats or a sore in the mouth is to gargle or swish around a saltwater rinse.

The first time I did this I didn’t expect the salt to sting so intensely, and tears filled my eyes. It hurt and I wanted nothing to do with rinsing that way again. Knowing the results of gargling and rinsing, my husband encouraged me to continue to swish the saltwater mixture around my mouth again.

I did.

It worked. The next day I all but forgot about what had troubled me the day before. The saltwater rinse was horrible, but it took care of what was causing me trouble and pain.

Salt isn’t supposed to ALWAYS sting. And salt isn’t SUPPOSED to purposely sting. The sting of salt shows there is an open wound. Opens wounds need care so they heal.

Sometimes salt doesn’t sting at all. It adds flavor. It makes something better. In fact, some people want more salt than I can figure out how they manage it for flavor on their meal.

Salt can also be comforting.  Just because of the comfort feeling that comes from eating a salty treat, I have sat on my chair watching a movie, and crunched on more salty popcorn or chips than I should.

Salt can also be completely disgusting. When you put too much salt into a recipe, or put salt where sugar should be, it leaves a bad flavor in your mouth.The sting of salt produces good. 

The flavor of salt can produce delight and enjoyment.

The comfort of salt can bring a touch of love and safety.

Any overload of salt or salt where it doesn’t belong can produce repelling and dislike.

 Colossians 4:5- 6 “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

I wish I could say that whenever I talk, my words come out filled with grace and seasoned with salt. I wish I could say that I don’t put more salt than I should in a situation and make things be distasteful, but I can’t.

I can hope and pray that I do remember to be careful when pouring salt on wounds, to not put more salt than needed into a situation where it is distasteful. Rather to be salt for comfort, for love, healing and for good.