Saltiness

"For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:49-50

Salt is an amazing substance. So necessary and yet it can be deadly if too much is ingested. When I was a child, we lived for a time at the rifle range on Camp LeJuene, North Carolina during the height of the Vietnam War. There were only six families who lived there, so we kids had the run of a very fascinating place. Early in the morning the training would begin with calisthenics on the parade ground across from our house. Before breakfast the guns would start firing. We found the little clutch of officers' quarters along with the little PX, movie theater and laundry to be one of the most exotic places we had every been. And it was a treasure trove of mystery and fun to us kids who had the run of the place. The most wonderful thing we did was to go onto the range and pick up shells after the daily practice was over. And second most favorite delight was raiding the salt tablet dispensers. We delighted in choking down the tablets and then seeing how much water we could drink. Our bellies would swell and we giggle til it was time to explode towards the latrines. We found ways to entertain ourselves in that wilderness that would probably be prohibited today. Nobody seemed to care what we did as long as we didn't interfere with the routine of the range. And we had learned that routine instantly and knew how to avoid all the marine brass and anyone that might try to contain us.

Today, we are challenged to be salty within our selves and to be at peace with one another. We are invited by God to live with delight in the small and simple joys of life and to delight in the joys of others. This is the mark of a disciple, we are told. To be salty within, I want to invite Gos to help me celebrate and delight as a child in the gifts that I have been given. In this time of healing, rediscovering expressive arts -writing,photography, music etc.- helps me to know God in a different way and to be at peace with my family and community in creative ways. I pray that we can all invite God into our lives through the lovely and truly individual expressions we have been given. May we find God and one another in the coming days as we open our hearts and eyes to the beauty and life that surrounds us.

"When in our music God is glorified, and adoration leaves no room for pride, it is as though the whole creation cried, alleluia." Hymnal 1982 - Hymn 420