staying salty

It's thought that the origin of the phrase "take it with a grain of salt" relates to the fact that nasty food might taste just a wee bit better if you put a little salt on it. (It makes perfect, logical sense, but I still googled it a few minutes ago. Just to be sure.)

And since salt was rather expensive "back in the day" - you had to make do with a grain... otherwise the saying would be "take it with a whole heaping pile of salty goodness."

I think 2 things about this are interesting... salt was flavorful and salt was valuable.

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." Matthew 5:13

I am the salt of the earth. People are the salt of the earth.
We are the flavor and value of the earth.

As a mama - I've discovered whole new levels of what it means for me to stay salty.

Sometimes it means listening to the diatribes of other (well-meaning, but often condescending) moms about how they did things, what's "good" for kids and what isn't, and why they think your baby behaves in specific ways... and not being rankled by them, but rather, smiling graciously, adding a dash of salt to their words, and giving them a taste. Even when you don't want to.

Sometimes it means flavoring your own words, lest you become one of the afore-mentioned patronizing mamas... and just plain old offering words of encouragement to your friends. One of my friends has a baby girl just a bit younger than Hazel, and I ran into her at church on Saturday night - we hadn't seen each other in awhile. Aside from being fabulous to see her and laugh with her, she left me with a few precious words of encouragement that I have thought about every day since then. Multiple times a day. And even now, it almost brings tears to my eyes to think about how much those little words mean to me. It strikes me that it's really not so hard to give away a little salt - and chances are good that it will probably flavor the recipient's thoughts for a long time.

And sometimes it just simply means that I need to remember that God sees me as flavorful and valuable - no matter how bland and used-up I might feel at the end of the day. I am working a part of His plan out every single day... and that is a good thing. I need to cling to my saltiness.