Salt and light

Most days I wake up all like, “Yes! New day! Time to exercise!”

But today I was a bit slower. Winter is coming, it was windy and cold outside.

Perhaps one day I will use this bloggy medium to further ponder why people enjoy cold weather (my coworker exclaimed, “Danielle! Living in THE PRESENT!”) but, that’s not for today.

Today there is a quote that inspires me, sent from a friend to my Facebook inbox: “Hold yourself to the highest artistic standard and love others into eternity.”

Can I just love and ponder that forever? Ok. Thanks.

This, I feel, is worth two points.

Point number one: “Hold yourself to the highest artistic standard.”

In our artistry, our creative endeavours, may we present well.

I once heard a talk by a priest who was talking about “The Passion of the Christ.” He pointed out that, after that movie made lots of $$, the entertainment industry was like, “Oh wow! Christian culture! Let us bank on them!” and proceeded to throw other films that weren’t well accepted.

The priest’s point (which can be argued, I know) was that people appreciate ART: well-done, well-made, well-crafted messages and stories. We, created in the image and likeness of God, have the capacity to be creative and to be creative in beautiful ways.

In fact, it cheapens what we do if we just throw out something junky and be like, “Well, it’s about God and therefore any effort is acceptable.”

Nope. This message of truth is worthy of our finest efforts.

(Therefore: I shall use spellcheck. Ha).

Point number two: “Love others into eternity.”

Can this just become my life-goal? I wish, right?

I was reading Matthew 5 earlier this week, and I get to the part about the salt and light. I feel like that’s one of those passages that I sometimes skim; it’s a passage where I’m so used to the words and the rhythm that I don’t take the time to THINK about it. (Sorry, Jesus).

Salt. Light. These things. What do they have in common? Well, they go to affect and influence EVERYTHING around them.

I attempted to make gluten-free pancakes over the weekend because I had a hankerin’. I used instant corn flour because I’m gluten-free and corn flour was closest to flour-flour. (Hi, I’m still a newb at my GF restrictions). The pancakes turned out a touch salty, which was interesting. Salty pancakes?? In an instant I knew the flavor: salt. It had changed everything. There were also, say, eggs in the pancakes. But I didn’t know from the first bite that, “Wow, this has eggs.” Or, “Wow, really tasting the corn starch.” It was the salt that made the lasting impact.

What if there could be Christians like that? What if I could know people and they would be touched by merely coming in CONTACT with me?

What if our conversations would serve as conduits of truth, life, light, and love until suddenly everything around us was salty, or lit (so to speak).

What if everyone around the Christians was markedly touched by compassion, consolation, and charity?

That would be so cool.

I wish I could love people to eternity!

Thank you, inbox friend, for this Monday-inspiration!