Salt can be convincing. We can guarantee my four-year-old son will try a new food if we tell him “you can put salt on it!” He will reach for our salt jar, take a healthy pinch with his chubby fingers, and sprinkle it on his questionable vegetable. Most of the time, that magical dust of salt will turn a previously revolting green bean into his favorite snack!
Salt is actually much more powerful than convincing a stubborn four-year-old to eat his green beans. Salt not only fights bacteria and mold to preserve nutritious food, it helps hydrate your body as an electrolyte. Salt is essential for life.
Jesus calls US the “salt of the earth.” What a wild responsibility!
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus convicts us to stay salty. He says, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”
It is pretty clear—God has a plan to use our saltiness, so we better put it to work.
I’ve seen a lot of salty people at GraceWorks. Here is a recent example from a GraceWorks neighbor whose life was decaying around her. This story is pulled from our internal “Catalogue of Goodness” where our team members share neighbor stories. It is slightly edited to protect identity and the bolded items are my commentary!
A neighbor came in fighting back tears. She was feeling completely overwhelmed because she is about to undergo some major surgeries. Health issues are common instances of the decay of the world on display.
She never thought she’d find herself in a situation like this where she’d have to shop at a food pantry—Shame is like a bacteria and will fester quickly and painfully.
After receiving our food and shelter assistance (here comes the salty stuff!) she repeated several times how we are all doing really important, meaningful work that really makes a difference in people’s lives.
She said she doesn’t know what she would do if it weren’t for GraceWorks. Salt is indeed essential for life.
Thank you for keeping GraceWorks salty! God wants to use us to fight decay and preserve what is good. Thanks to all of you who pray, serve, donate, and shop with GraceWorks, I think God finds salt here that can even turn brussels sprouts into a favorite snack!
If you need a little salt in your life this week, please reach out to GraceWorks at 615-794-9055 or go to GraceWorks.Help to learn more.
If you are wanting to be salty with us this week, here are a few things you can do!
- Ask God to give you someone to pray for who is fighting decay this week. Say a humble prayer for them every morning, and call or text them Friday to see how they are doing.
- Reach out to a neighbor and ask what makes them smile. Go and do that thing for them.
- Come shop at GraceWorks—yes, that is right. Here you can shop and be salty! Proceeds from our women’s boutique, antiques, and our newly expanded Thrift Store go toward our salty Food, Shelter, and Support programs.
- Clean out your closet, drive the extra mile, and donate your used clothes and home goods here. We will turn these items into flavor-filled relief!
—Alicia