Do you remember Jesus' admonition that we are salt in the world? And if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
I've been thinking about that lately in terms of the changes that are coming to the government in the U.S.
What does salt do? It preserves, and it flavours. But it doesn't change the essential property. What it does is to stop it from rotting so quickly.
It doesn't make it fresher; it just slows down the rotting process. The direction is still the same: it's still rotting. But it's going much more slowly.
Now I don't mean to be a pessimist. And please forgive me for being political, as I'm about to do in a moment.
But I've been upset at both the Bush administration and the Harper administration in Canada because they haven't gone far enough. There's so much more they could have done to revamp welfare, to save the public school system by getting back to basics, to clean up our culture, to cut down on corruption. But very little was done.
In other words, little progress was made.
But salt doesn't make progress. What it does is prevent stuff from rotting. So maybe the sign of a productive and good government is that things don't get worse! It's not so much that they get better; it's that the rotting stops or slows. So if things stay the same, we're doing okay.
Of course, we'd like it to get better, and there are other biblical passages that point to the difference that we can make when we speak up for God. But when you're running a government, with an entrenched bureaucracy you can't do much. You can just simply slow the descent.
Maybe we expect too much out of our leaders. Transformational leaders are few and far between; Reagan was one, and I don't know if we'll see another in our lifetime. But we should all appreciate the fact that under Bush and Harper, certain things didn't disintegrate faster than they already were.
What will happen under Obama? I'm worried, especially given his picks for Education Cabinet Minister. Chicago, for pity's sake? What is he thinking?
I expect will see an accelerated decline in some areas in the next little while because no one is trying to stop that decline.
So it's up to us. We can't rely on the government to make it better. We have to reach out ourselves, and love our neighbours, teach our kids well, instill values and morals. No one else will do it.
It's up to us. We are the salt. We are what prevents decay. If the salt has been removed from the government, it's up to us. We may not have felt the urgency before; we will feel it now. So let's do something about it.
Instead of complaining, let's talk to the neighbourhood kids. Let's volunteer in youth groups. Let's make our communities better places. That's what you can do. It's within our grasp. And you are salt!
About Me: I'm a Christian author of a bunch of books, and a frequent speaker to women's groups and marriage conferences. Best of all, I love homeschooling my daughters, Rebecca and Katie. And I love to knit. Preferably simultaneously.
Stumble It!
I love your explanation of what salt does. I never really thought about it that way. :P