As submitted to EV Mail News for publication.
"For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." -Mark 9:49-50
One of the many things I miss the most in the Philippines and one that is very hard to find here in Midwest America (that's where we live right now) is salt water. No not the kind we use for cooking or brining because that would be easy to make. I'm talking about a whole large body of salt water. The seas! The oceans! The salt-water beaches of Leyte and Samar! Those I miss so much right now.
We have beautiful lakes and fresh water rivers here in Illinois but they are kind of bland, so to speak. Our beaches in the city of Chicago are fresh-water though how fresh is kind of questionable sometimes. Ha! But they're way so much better than our Ilog Pasig in Manila for sure.
Salt water supposedly has some healing powers. I remember from my childhood when my elders especially my grandmothers used to tell me that the beach is the place to go when someone is being plagued with some kind of disease or illness that baffle even the medical doctors or from any type of rash or skin malady or body aches and pains and arthritis, the salt water of our beaches is the key ingredient for the treatment.
Their prescription for cure: just soak once or twice a day for a month or two and you will feel like a brand new person after that. I've no idea if this is true because I don't remember getting healed from any kind of disease. All I remember is having fun at the beach with family and friends, riding the waves no matter that I already looked like a roasted pig due to too much sun and with the taste of salt water on my lips that lasted for days. Those were fun days indeed!
But the news of the healing powers of salt water seem to continue to spread around the world. The Dead Sea (which is actually a salt lake) bordering Jordan and Israel in the Middle East is well known for its supposed healing powers. The Sea has continually attracted millions of visitors from around the world for hundreds of years. It is known to be a place of refuge even for King David of the Old Testament Bible. Various diseases afflicting mankind are said to get healed when people soak in its salty waters. But I guess visitors are more likely to float than soak in those salty waters due to its very high salinity and density levels.
Another thing for which salt is of importance is cooking. Food definitely tastes so much better with salt. Even in baking pastries a pinch of salt is needed in order to enhance the flavor of the cakes. No one likes to eat bland food and I'm pretty sure Filipinos are on top of that list.
We love the tasty, flavorful, very rich and sometimes very salty food. Salt has always been a part of the Filipino diet and sometimes it's even way too much part of it that we find out too late about the adverse consequences to our health. But I'm not even gonna talk about the side effects for now. All I can say is that everything and anything extreme is always bad and that includes salt. A pinch goes a long, long way and a dash can make any meal palatable just don't go overboard.
The reason I wanted to write about salt today because aside from the truth that I suddenly have a craving to swim in salt water and how it reminds me that I miss "home" but also as a Christian I have been compared to salt by my Savior. This got me to thinking about the properties of salt, the healing powers of salt water, the need humans have for salt in our food, etc.
It's such a lowly mineral and what a seemingly insignificant matter from earth. It's just a microscopic speck but what an impact it has on our lives! That's salt to you. And that's what Christians are supposed to be here on earth according to God. We ought to have some sort of an impact in the world, in our communities and in other people's lives. We are the salt of the earth. We are commanded by God to be "salty" and to have some "flavor" towards others. Our lives, our stories, and our testimonies in Jesus must take some form of "saltiness" so that we can glorify our Father in heaven.
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." -Matthew 5:13-14
"For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." -Mark 9:49-50
One of the many things I miss the most in the Philippines and one that is very hard to find here in Midwest America (that's where we live right now) is salt water. No not the kind we use for cooking or brining because that would be easy to make. I'm talking about a whole large body of salt water. The seas! The oceans! The salt-water beaches of Leyte and Samar! Those I miss so much right now.
We have beautiful lakes and fresh water rivers here in Illinois but they are kind of bland, so to speak. Our beaches in the city of Chicago are fresh-water though how fresh is kind of questionable sometimes. Ha! But they're way so much better than our Ilog Pasig in Manila for sure.
Salt water supposedly has some healing powers. I remember from my childhood when my elders especially my grandmothers used to tell me that the beach is the place to go when someone is being plagued with some kind of disease or illness that baffle even the medical doctors or from any type of rash or skin malady or body aches and pains and arthritis, the salt water of our beaches is the key ingredient for the treatment.
Their prescription for cure: just soak once or twice a day for a month or two and you will feel like a brand new person after that. I've no idea if this is true because I don't remember getting healed from any kind of disease. All I remember is having fun at the beach with family and friends, riding the waves no matter that I already looked like a roasted pig due to too much sun and with the taste of salt water on my lips that lasted for days. Those were fun days indeed!
But the news of the healing powers of salt water seem to continue to spread around the world. The Dead Sea (which is actually a salt lake) bordering Jordan and Israel in the Middle East is well known for its supposed healing powers. The Sea has continually attracted millions of visitors from around the world for hundreds of years. It is known to be a place of refuge even for King David of the Old Testament Bible. Various diseases afflicting mankind are said to get healed when people soak in its salty waters. But I guess visitors are more likely to float than soak in those salty waters due to its very high salinity and density levels.
Another thing for which salt is of importance is cooking. Food definitely tastes so much better with salt. Even in baking pastries a pinch of salt is needed in order to enhance the flavor of the cakes. No one likes to eat bland food and I'm pretty sure Filipinos are on top of that list.
We love the tasty, flavorful, very rich and sometimes very salty food. Salt has always been a part of the Filipino diet and sometimes it's even way too much part of it that we find out too late about the adverse consequences to our health. But I'm not even gonna talk about the side effects for now. All I can say is that everything and anything extreme is always bad and that includes salt. A pinch goes a long, long way and a dash can make any meal palatable just don't go overboard.
The reason I wanted to write about salt today because aside from the truth that I suddenly have a craving to swim in salt water and how it reminds me that I miss "home" but also as a Christian I have been compared to salt by my Savior. This got me to thinking about the properties of salt, the healing powers of salt water, the need humans have for salt in our food, etc.
It's such a lowly mineral and what a seemingly insignificant matter from earth. It's just a microscopic speck but what an impact it has on our lives! That's salt to you. And that's what Christians are supposed to be here on earth according to God. We ought to have some sort of an impact in the world, in our communities and in other people's lives. We are the salt of the earth. We are commanded by God to be "salty" and to have some "flavor" towards others. Our lives, our stories, and our testimonies in Jesus must take some form of "saltiness" so that we can glorify our Father in heaven.
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." -Matthew 5:13-14
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