Being Salt

I made a recipe tonight for cream of asparagus soup from a neat cookbook I checked out from my library called Twelve Months of Monastery Soups. I love the way this cookbook is organized into months, so that the produce which would be in season is called for during the appropriate month. Another perk is that the summer months contain some recipes for chilled soups, for when it is hot outside and something lighter and cooler would be welcomed.

In any case, this asparagus soup recipe was a keeper. The children liked it, and several of them had seconds. It was filling, so the only thing I served it with was fresh bread. Simple and nourishing.

It didn't call for a lot of seasonings- only salt and pepper- to taste.

And I found myself thinking, as I added the salt and pepper, a little at a time, of Jesus's words... How we are supposed to be the salt of the world.

Because honestly, even though that soup was made of fresh, wholesome ingredients, it wasn't very palatable without salt.

I suppose we are supposed to be like that, be people who make this world something delicious and savory when it would otherwise be bland or even detestable. That our love and grace would be a substance that fills and nourishes others...To be God flavors, God colors, to this earth, to the people and places we encounter with His love. To paint all things beautiful.

And I can't help but think that it is possible, as in making soup, to use too much salt. Perhaps we need to tread carefully, add a little, taste. Stir. Wait. Gently does it.

With people, gently does it. Not need to force too much on any one, lest our life become viewed as something unsavory, unpalatable. Love speaks truth, and Jesus is truth, but he is also love personified. He need never be one or the other. Always both.

Salt can make one thirsty for Living Water, or it can parch and choke and dehydrate if it never leads there.

I guess a girl can learn a lot from making a pot of soup.

~amy danielle