Earlier this week Evan and I were busy preparing a hotdish for supper later that night. It was still early in the day, so we thought we would make some fresh bread. He was eager to help measure and mix and soon his chubby little fingers were full of flour. We were in the middle of putting the last of the ingredients in the bowl when my phone rang. After a few minutes, I wrapped up the conversation with my mom, and Evan and I got back to work. We had some fun kneading the soft dough, and then put it in the bowl to rise. We went about our day, baked the bread and put supper in the oven.
Our family sat down to supper that night and everyone’s nose immediately wrinkled when I placed my dish in the middle of the table. No, not at the fresh bread, rather the hotdish I had made; too many vegetables, apparently. As they wrinkled their noses at the healthy meal in front of them, they all picked up a slice of bread. After a few bites, to my surprise, even more wrinkles. Kaylie spoke up and said, “This bread tastes funny!” Josh got after her for being rude and politely asked her to keep quiet and just eat it. After all, I had been busy all day creating a nice warm meal to enjoy and it seemed as though no one appreciated it. Josh and I must have taken a bite of our bread at the same time, because we both said, “Oh!” in unison. After reviewing the recipe and replaying all the dumping and stirring I realized I forgot to add the salt! It is amazing how bad bread tastes when you forget to add such a small amount of salt.
Over the last couple days, I’ve been looking at this bread wondering what I was going to do with it all. (My recipe makes 4 big loaves!) As I was looking at the bread today, I thought about the scripture of Jesus teaching about salt and light.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses it saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Matthew 5:13
Salt. Seems pretty simple. My unsalted bread was flat, flavorless and of little value. As Christians, we are of little value if we do not make an effort to affect the world around us. Not only does Jesus instruct us to help “flavor” His creation, He also tells us to help preserve the good in the world.
Being “salty” isn’t always easy. Some people around us look at us like we are crazy, we are mocked for what we do, and people oppose our beliefs and morals. Sadly, often times the voices of the world are much louder than ours. While I don’t believe we are to yell back, I do believe we are to lovingly share our message. Around every corner, someone is watching; someone is taking note of our attitude and the way we live our lives. They are growing tired of their flavorless and meaningless life and desire something better. They take notice because they see a sense of peace and love. They see something different in us and desire it for themselves.
There will be times when we forget to add the salt, but with God’s help and the Spirit’s guidance, we are all equipped to season and preserve the world around us.
Keeping it salty Becky Ossefoort
PS – As for the bread, I took half of it and made bread pudding. The other half went in the freezer for stuffing the Christmas turkey. I am way too Dutch to throw it out!