WHEN SALT GOES BAD! 3/16/09

Good morning! This week we are going to discuss salt. Each time you use it think about the ways that God thought about it and perhaps our new incites will cause us to be full of flavor.
WHEN SALT GOES BAD!
We were wandering around an old antique store that had an old book section. It was our 39th anniversary. I found an old book published in 1892, called; ‘The Everyday Cook Book’ by Miss E. Neil. I begged Jim to buy it for me for our anniversary. It was only $15.00! This book covered everything you could eat or drink and cosmetiques. A section on miscellaneous stuff from how to make soap and to restore someone from a stroke of lightning. It had instructions on how to clean house and to teach your children the same. Dressmaking and the art on how to dress well, and some of the secrets of beauty. There is even a section on laughter! Miss Neil covered everything that had to do with living in the latter part of the 1800's.

Here are a few of these treasurers. ‘If your coal fire is low, throw on a tablespoon of salt, and it will help it very much.’ ‘To cleanse a sponge you rub fresh lemon thoroughly into a soured sponge and rinsing it several times in lukewarm water, it will become as sweet as when new’. You know, that one is still being used and is probably classified as ‘an old wives tale’. How about this one for a chest cold; ‘A flannel dipped in boiling water, and sprinkled with turpentine, laid on the chest as quickly as possible, will relieve the most severe cold or hoarseness’. I think I will keep my Hall’s Eucalyptus throat lozenges! Instructions for how to dust a room is ingenious. ‘Soft cloths make the best of dusters. In dusting any piece of furniture begin at the top and dust down, wiping carefully with the cloth, which can be frequently shaken’.

I was reminded of this book when I met a lady at the big supermarket the other day. She was buying 3 generic boxes of baking soda. I said; "boy, you must be going to do a lot of baking"! She smiled and told me this story. "I am cleaning my drain! My grandmother did this and so I have always cleaned my plugged drain with 1 cup of baking soda, 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of white vinegar. I pour each one in separately and after it finishes bubbling I run warm water down the drain and the clog is gone. Works every time and it is cheap!" "My grandmother also used salt to exfoliate her skin....she would take a bath in it". I told her about my thinning hair and that I used salt to unclog the pours on my scalp. I don’t think she was particularly impressed with my story but I was with hers.

Did you know that your taste buds are always changing and as we get older our taste buds begin to lose their properties that make them taste buds? Thelma, a friend of mine, could hardly wait to die. One of the reasons was that nothing taste good to her anymore. Even adding salt didn’t help any more.

Jesus says something interesting about salt in Matthew 5:13. "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost is taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men". Mark 9:50 says; " how will you season salt again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another". Luke 14:34-35 says it still another way. "When salt goes bad it is neither fit for land or the dunghill. Men throw it away".

God is not talking about how we use salt as an abrasive to restore hair or remove a clog in our drains. He is merely likening us to the salt we use at the table. It brings flavor to our palate in such a way that we can’t help but delight in what we are eating. Jesus says that when we season our world as salt seasons our food, those around us will want what we have. However, if we lose this salt or flavor in us it can’t be restored. We are no good! Men will pay no attention to us but instead throw us away. Think about who you are in Christ! Think about how the world sees you? Are you full of tasty goodness or distasteful? By Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/5/08