Knowing how
to respond to each person is an issue of discretion. It may take a gift of the
Spirit to graciously respond to each person with love and compassion. The best
place may be to start is with a clean heart yourself. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within
me…from Psalm 51:10. I know that when my own heart is right with God, it is
easier to be discreet and respectful of others—to respond politely to
them—seasoned with tasty salt—not bitter grapes.
Training Tip – Role play some situations with your family so that
your children will know how to respond to each person. Some ideas for role
playing may include:
Arguing or dealing with some issue within
the family.
Meeting a new teacher at school.
Meeting new classmates.
Visiting the doctor or dentist and
discussing a problem.
Talking with a librarian about a
particular book.
Talking to a pastor about a Biblical
question.
Talking with someone who has just
had a birth or a death in their family.
You can
probably think of more situations that your child may need to “practice” to give
them real life ideas of what to do and say. Make your role playing age
appropriate for the ages of your children.
Lord Jesus, please give us wisdom that we would know
how to respond to others around us.
Friday’s Feast at the Lord’s Table
Over the
years I have seen different salts in grocery or health food stores and gourmet
shops, but have really only tried a couple of sea salts and kosher salt. A
few weeks ago I had lunch with a friend at her home and noticed a salt grinder
with pink salt crystal in it. I asked her if it tasted any different and she
assured me that it did. I don’t think I used enough of it to really tell the
difference. Since then I’ve wanted to learn more about different salts. So here’s
just a little of what I’ve gleaned.
·
Not all salt
is created equal. Table salt is so processed that only sodium chloride, additional
anti-caking agents and sometimes iodine are found in that finely ground salt
that is commonly used in baking and at the table. Table salt is not
particularly healthy.
·
Salt comes
from mining earth deposits (old sea) and from evaporation of the sea.
·
Salts can be
fine, coarse, or flaked. Each has a distinctive use such as for the table,
baking, roasting meats, or finishing vegetables and salads.
·
Kosher salt
is a coarse salt that is additive free. Once used in the production of kosher
foods, it is now the most used salt. It may seem to taste less salty than sea
salt but that is due to the size of the crystals of salt.
·
Sea salt is
the strongest tasting salt and has many natural trace elements that are good
for our bodies. It can be either fine or coarse.
·
Pink salt, like my friend served, is Himalayan salt that is considered to
be the very purist, hand-mined salt. It is a
salt that was crystallized millions of years ago and is now found naturally,
deep within the pristine Himalayan Mountains, protected from modern-day
pollution.
·
Dead Sea Salt is
harvested at the southern end of the Dead Sea in Israel where the mineral
content is the highest.
·
Other Sea Salts
are from Spain, France, Italy, Hawaii, Bali, Bolivia, El Salvador (Mayan) and
New Zealand. They are named for their characteristics, like Sel Gris – a French
mineral rich gray salt; and Gros Sel—a large salt used in a grinder or to
create a salt crust on meat or fish. Fleur de sel, which
means "flower of salt" in French, is actually scraped from the salt
crystals on salt evaporation ponds.
·
Seasoned salts from
many parts of the world contains other spices and additives to create
additional flavors. Your imagination is the limiting factor when it comes to
flavored salts.
So as you gather
around the Lord’s Table, add some tasty sea salt to any of your dishes and reap
the benefits of trace elements.
All
scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise
noted.
© 2013 by Mickey M.
Hunacek. All rights reserved.
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