Salt

I am so easily sidetracked. What was supposed to be a quiet day at home with Adeline blossomed into much more. Initially my goal was to keep my granddaughter content, happy, and quiet. Quiet. I know. An eight month old doesn’t really understand quiet. It’s just that Elise was home from college and I knew she could use the extra sleep.

            Keeping Adeline quiet involved playing on the floor, watching her drop and pick up her toys, and occasionally singing to her. The only problem was whenever I would sing, she would laugh out loud and the neighbor’s dog would bark. Instead of singing, I held out the pink toy cell phone, causing her to drop mine, and allowing me to make a call.

I was soon talking to Lisa Young and scribbling down her recipe for Chicken Enchilada soup. Or Chicken Tortilla soup. I’m not sure what it’s called; I just asked for the recipe of the soup she fed my daughter Lauren. Although I hadn’t intended on cooking, I decided to try the soup while Lisa’s instructions were fresh in my mind.

            As soon as Elise woke up, I handed Adeline to her and began to cook. All went smoothly until I had to look for a spice. This proved quite historical. In most cases, I could remember buying, but not using the spices. Lemon pepper? When did I ever use lemon pepper? One sniff of the long forgotten seasoning assured me it was well past its prime. I also found bacon flavored salt from Victoria’s pre-vegetarian days and more Italian seasoning than I’ll ever use. When I found one spice stamped with a 2008 expiration date, I began tossing spices in the trash can.

            Did the discovery of the variety of seasoning my cabinet held inspire me to want to cook more? Only in my family’s dreams. After cleansing the cabinet of stale spices, I grabbed the salt shaker and returned to the stove. As the salt flowed freely into the enchilada/tortilla soup, I thought of this simple spice and its ability to bring out the flavor in foods into which it comes in contact. In addition to flavoring foods, salt purifies, heals, preserves, creates thirst, and so much more. According to the Salt Institute, there are over 14,000 uses for salt.

            In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth. So what does that mean? Perhaps we should season our world, affecting  people positively, bringing out the best in everyone and every situation. Maybe it means we should preserve Godly values by countering the moral decay in society. It might also mean we should do our part to heal the hurting and wounded we encounter with the love of God. I believe if we do those things, the salt in us will also cause others to thirst for the Living Water.

            Being the salt of the earth is a task from which I cannot allow myself to become sidetracked.

Ronny may be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com