There was a long stretch of my caregiving when my daughter needed to stay at home. My mom did our grocery shopping. My husband took the older kids to church. And I stayed home with Leah. She was in a place where she couldn’t get sick without very negative consequences.

I have a journal amongst my daughter’s belongings. Actually, I have several journals for her that are filled with daily stats such as oxygen saturations, fluid intake, etc., but the one I’m writing about has a special purpose. This one, with its scratched blue cover that makes it look ready for the trashcan, holds the most precious information of all. Inside are the dates when I could see God providing for our family in our darkest moments.

I believe we miss the implications of salt’s value in a world where everyone has at least three varieties of salt in their kitchen cabinet. Do you understand the important role salt played in the time of Christ? First of all, it is a flavoring. We all know how bland food is without a little dash of the white stuff in there. Secondly, salt was used for preservation of food before refrigeration. You can imagine how valuable that was in a desert climate.

Caregiving often places us in quiet distress. It is not dramatic or even visible, but it is persistent and it is heavy. Days blur together and we find ourselves weary beyond words.

Do you remember when you were learning to write a term paper in school? You learned that the intro told you what the subject was, the body of the paper defended that position, and the closing paragraph summed everything up. It should be pointed out that ancient writings don’t always fit this newer format, but in the case of today’s scripture, Paul has summed up his letter for the readers at the end. How handy!