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!