I have been a bit busy with holiday activities and orders, so I have not had much time to blog lately.  Obviously!    I just found this article I wrote a year ago and thought I would post it here.  Enjoy!

 

     

 

When my husband Dennis was diagnosed with a Kidney disease 3 years ago, I got a whole new appreciation for salt.  His diet was rapidly changed including a drop in sodium intake to 500 mg per day.  When you consider that many breads have 200-250 mg in one slice, this was virtually no salt at all.

 I had to hunt all over town for “no salt added” foods.  The reason I had to hunt was because “no salt added” food tastes terrible.  I found myself with a saltshaker at my side at every meal.  The reality of this all hit home when I attempted to make a pot of my favorite chili with “no salt added” beans.  Blech!  Horrible!  Salt does not just make something "salty" but it also brings out the flavors of all of the other ingredients.  I was so disappointed.  And no matter how much salt I added on top, it still was not the same as having the salt cooked and simmered into the pot.

As an image consultant, I love helping women discover how “salty” they are.  When I was younger I constantly tried to express myself by trying to be like everyone else.  Talk about an identity crisis!  I did not know who I was so I tried to be everyone else.  So many of us try to conform to what we see on or in others… “if I could only look like her,” “if I could only wear that,” … “if I only had her anointing.”  Conforming is not being salt unless we are conforming to the image of Christ. 

I was meeting with a new client recently and we were discussing her wardrobe woes.  She is a stay-at-home mom frustrated with her clothing options.  After talking with her I discovered that in her mind, she thought she had to wear sweat pants all of the time in order to be a stay-at-home mom.  Her personality was hidden behind the clothes.  I told her we were going to “let her loose” and a huge sigh of relief came across her face. 

The only way to truly be salty is to discover who you are in Christ and then let that person loose.  That freedom is salty because it is contagious.  My client’s new-found freedom is going to make her more alive, more enticing, more appealing to those around her.  She’s going be salty!

The Bible calls us to be the salt of the earth.  (Matt 5:13)  How salty are you?  Do you flavor the earth?  Are you a trend-setter, not a trend follower, a world changer, not changed by the world?  And if you are salty, are you mixing yourself in the world or are you just sprinkling yourself on top a little?  We are not only called to be salt but to be “in the world.” (Mark 16:15, John 17: 13-18)  Yes, not “of it,” but we are to be “in it.”  What good is being salty if we do not season anything?  Let’s not let this world be “no salt added.”  Be Salt!

And being salt is not just about adding flavor to our world.  The Bible lists many uses for salt including as a preservative to keep things from rotting, as a part of offerings to God (Lev 2:13), as a source of healing from death and barrenness (2 Kings 2:20 & 21), as a sign of covenant with God (2 Chron 13:5), and as an anointing for the newborn (Ezek 16:4).  So how are you being the salt of the earth today?  Go on, be salty!

 

~Lori