God’s salt

There are two ways to walk into a room. You can walk in as a critic, or you can walk into the room as salt.

The critic walks in hunched over and in a hurry. Then he lifts up his head and rattles off a list of things that are wrong with the people in the room and the moment itself. He usually has a list of things you should have done or said. He will often let you know what you got wrong the last time you opened your mouth to speak. I am afraid I sometimes walk into a room as the critic. 

The other way to walk into a room is as salt. Jesus never said, “I want you to go out into the world and tell everyone how and why they are wrong. Tell them all what they should have done.” That’s not what he was about. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.”

Salt brings out the natural flavor of the food to which it is applied. When someone who is salt walks into the room, she is looking for the subtle way she can bring love to the surface of the moment and accentuate the gifts of the people in the room without drawing attention to herself. One who is salt doesn’t bother with what you should have done or said because that doesn’t cross her mind. She is totally occupied with wonder at how magnificent you are. Her only move is to see if she can encourage you to shine all the brighter for the sake of love.

I want to be salt. God’s salt. What about you? Are you salt, or are you a critic?

You didn’t ask, but while we’re on the subject I’ll say this. I think the world has enough critics, but not nearly enough salt.