"You are the salt of the earth..."
-- Matthew 5:13
I've watched enough Paula, Rachel, Mario, and Emeril to know that the purpose of salt isn't what we learned in youth camp. You're not supposed to taste salt, you're supposed to taste whatever flavor the salt is meant to enhance. Salt, in right proportion, makes garlic taste more garlic-y, meat more meat-y.
When Jesus called his disciples the salt of the earth, he wasn't telling them to overpower the world. He was letting them know that their presence in the world would make ordinary flavors and colors and ideas...dance. Ordinary moments are still ordinary moments in the presence of the followers of The Way, but our understanding of "ordinary" becomes charged with emotion and movement and...meaning.
I've been thinking about the salt of the earth lately, because my life is brimming with friends who live up to the moniker. Today at work I was doing something and looked up to see one of the tallest grains of salt I know, Brandon Durham. Brandon, a friend from ETBU, was in town helping his sister and brother-in-law (who I didn't know lived in town,) move. Brandon is the salt of the earth. He brings out the best in a moment, and the best in a person. I'm glad I know him, and I'm glad he's here, if even for an ordinary few moments.
2 comments:
nice with the sodium chloride. i always remember the bit in Little House on the Prairie (the book series) when Laura's father talks about how salt on his potato just makes the potato taste better. Go and be salty, friend.
i intimidate myself when i'm overpowering... thanks for the observation.
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