My mum brought back the washed bitter-leaf, and as usual, put it on the tray for it to dry up before she packaged it for the journey. But it was wrong timing, and this was not the first time it was happening. It was the rainy season, where it could rain for days without the Sun giving a peek from the clouds. Each time as we turned the vegetable, we felt it getting stickier and stickier, and it was like history was repeating itself all over again.
You see, my mother once brought back washed bitter-leaf to dry before sending it to someone, but it was also during the rainy season, and we watched helplessly as the rain came down each day, making sure the Sun never shone until the vegetable got bad, going to waste. We had to buy another batch, thank God He sent the Sun the next time.
So you understand our fear as the vegetable was sticking together. Then my mother remembered! She had been told by a woman to toss the vegetable with salt, to avoid it sticking and stinking, so she did just that, and voila! The change was almost immediate. The salt preserved the vegetable and soon the Sun came out and dried it properly.
I got thinking about the effect of the salt, and the bible verse came to me “Ye are the salt of the earth…” (Matthew 5:13).
The world is full of ups and downs, today you have a lot to be thankful for with the Sun shining brightly. The next day, you are thankful for the fact that you are alive to look for what to be thankful for, with clouds so thick over your head you are left wondering if the Sun will ever shine again.
That is when we should step in as salt of the earth and preserve each other until the Sun comes out again. We should hold each other’s hands, preserving each other’s faith by the grace of God, until the Sun of Righteousness rises with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2)
Sometimes preserving the next person may mean crying with them.
Sometimes it may mean praying for them or with them with all the compassion you can muster.
Sometimes it may mean not giving up on them, stomaching the nonsense, no matter how often they ask you to mind your own business.
Sometimes it may mean joining a friend through the journey of fasting and praying, so they don’t give up on themselves.
There are many ways through which we are called to be salt of the earth, to the earth, but in all, let’s retain our saltiness.
