Adding "Zing" To Lives And ircumstances

 Adding “Zing” To Lives and Circumstances

I’ve always loved to eat a good bowl of soup. When I lived overseas and would come back to visit my mom she knew what to prepare for me – pea soup with ham.  Lovely.

These days one of my favourite soups to make is the “vegetable medley soup” that I make in my slow cooker from whatever the combination is of left-over cooked vegetables that I’ve frozen, or whatever is lying in the crisper in the fridge that doesn’t look like it will be crisp too much longer.

Along with some broth and seasonings it all goes into the slow cooker and gets blended into a hearty soup that I enjoy.  No two pots of the soup are the same – although I have certain veggies that I like to make sure I add in because they really add something lovely to the taste and, of course spices that make all the difference.  No matter what else goes in, we all know that one seasoning will be salt. 

Salt was used a lot during the time Jesus walked on the earth and that made it a very useful object lesson for an important teaching Jesus invites us to bring front and center to our attention.  Many of us have often read or heard these familiar words:

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. 

Matthew 5:13

The Message translation puts it this way:

Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

Matthew 5:13

Lord, in the quiet of this moment we ask You to show us where we need to “add a little zing” to lives and circumstances where the flavour of Your goodness can’t yet be found. 

The ways we live before You and others are as individual as we are.  It’s not about us all doing the same thing but it is about bringing ourselves to You so we live well and enrich the lives of all we meet.

Forgive us for all the ways we taste like, look like, sound like, and act like the world around us.  Where we have allowed the dominant culture of our day and time to dilute and diminish the glory of God and the good news of the Kingdom, God, in Your mercy, cleanse us.  Set us apart to Yourself.  Make us holy people, we pray.

Well, we are all very different people and God, in His creativity has lots of different ways for us to bring out the flavour of His kingdom where we live and interact with others.  Let’s have a great day doing it.