In modern days when the term salty is used as an adjective to describe a person it typically means to be bitter or resentful. Basically no one wants to be known as salty! However, when creating this blog, Salty Mom Struggles, I was referencing the Biblical meaning of salt. In Matthew 5 verse 13 when Jesus is giving what we today know as the Sermon on the Mount to His disciples and the crowds nearby he tells them, "You are the salt of the earth..." He lets them know they are called to bring flavor and to be distinct. We are to be set apart from the world as followers of Christ. I haven't really heard much debate about the meaning of this passage; however, the way this looks in our everyday lives is what I want to take a second to speak to, so please go ahead and feel free to climb on (or run from but hopefully not) my brief soap box.
I often wonder have we missed the boat on being salt of the earth? My fear is not that we aren't distinctive as followers of Christ, but rather what makes us distinct is not that which reflects the love of Christ. My fear is that this world has come to recognize and yes judge, but maybe rightly so, that we are first identified as Christians by our ability to judge and condemn others. I worry that when we cry out in intolerance for anyone unlike us we quickly fall under the umbrella of what many people in the world perceive a Christian to be. Have we traded forgiveness for resentment or acceptance for rejection? Have we forfeited the love, kindness, and mercy shown by Christ for hatred, bitterness, and judgement and if we have how do we get back to being authentic imitators of Christ Jesus?
It is my belief that we must first recognize that we as modern day followers of Christ are struggling with an identity crisis, not because we do not know who we are, but maybe we don't know who Jesus is, not in his true image anyway. We have forgotten that Jesus ate with the sinners, showed mercy to the prostitute, and when he confronted the Samaritan woman at the well, he did so lovingly and not merely to condemn her. His goal was not to expose her sins, but rather to introduce her to the Messiah! What a beautiful depiction of how loved we are by Jesus! We have forgotten that the qualification for judging others is to have a sinless life, a qualification that only Jesus met. Yet, when given the opportunity to cast a stone at the adulterous woman he didn't. Instead he gave her grace, and told her to go and sin no more. Let us be set apart like Jesus. Let us love like Jesus. Forgive like Jesus. May we be salt like Jesus!
A salty mom is a woman striving to be an imitator of Christ in the crazy and chaotic world of motherhood. A woman attempting to be distinctively different by her love for Christ, that is mirrored in her words and actions to those around her. A salty mom is someone doing her best to choose to extend forgiveness and acceptance over resentment and judgement when the trenches of motherhood leave her feeling anything but gracious. A salty mom is someone who is striving to live a holy in a world where anything goes. I am a self proclaimed struggling salty mom! I am trying to be a salty mom, but I fail to show grace and mercy more often than I'd like to. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'm not alone in this despite the fact that sometimes motherhood can be a very isolating place. My hope for this blog is to create comfort and encouragement to other women by sharing the success and struggles of my life as a wife, mother, and lover of food, writing, and Jesus!
Stay Salty,
Amy
Prayer for Saltiness
Lord be with each woman that reads this blog post. Lord search her heart and set her apart. Help her to become more like you. May your light shine through her and reach others. May she know how loved and cared for by you she is. Lord help guide her through every struggle she may be facing right now. Help her to walk the narrow way. Let her love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control be what makes her distinct like salt. Let her saltiness and love for you be evident to others.
In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,
Amen
