Salty Girl

May 12, 2005
Heartlight.org's verse of the day is:
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."-- Matthew 5:13
THEIR THOUGHT:
Jesus wanted us to never give up our moral distinctiveness, our redemptive influence, nor our loving impact on those around us. The purpose of our presence in the world is to be an influence in our culture against further decay and to season the bitter, dog-eat-dog world with grace and mercy.
MY THOUGHTS:
Whew!! I KNOW someone who REALLY does this well! She is living in an area of town that will declare her either prisoner, or missionary in her neighborhood. She is choosing missionary.
There are drug dealers, drug users, child neglecters, I just can't paint the picture well enough for you to GET IT... but there is gun fire in their neighborhood at night sometimes, loud music, and several weeks ago her neighbor across the street was killed. ACROSS THE STREET!
So, what is this family's response? I think that deep down, and maybe not too very deep.. they want to get the heck out of there. But for now, they are being salt.
There is a constant crowd of children in her yard as soon as the weather warms up in the spring, and throughout the summer, as she referees, she feeds them, and does all she can to serve, accept, love and listen to them while maintaining the "rules of the yard". She would love to have a quiet place for her kids to play, but for now, she's being light.
She has brought bagels, and countless other gifts of kindness to her 95 year old neighbor, and holds her dear enough to have her kids refer to her in a grandmotherly way. She has given rides to people, and provided on so many occasions, I just will never how many, she has delivered basic stuff to her neighbors who just couldn't afford at the time.
Oh, her husband is not without praise here too. He has a heart of gold as well, and felt LED to bring bottled water and fruit to the abandoned factory behind their house last week. I believe their target was the homeless who would visit the old building in the next 24 hours. They ran into graffiti artists instead, and God used my friend's friendly... "hey how's it going" demeanor to invite the girl into a small conversation, where she was just able to encounter Jesus love oozing out of every pore of my friend's being.
Lately, they've been called to draw a line in the sand and hold the neighborhood accountable for their many infringements on their peace, as well as the law. With tears welling up in my dear friends eyes, she shared with me and a group my close friends how angry it makes her when she encounters such resistance to God. She is offended in so many ways at the way people behave so badly in her neighborhood, but the thing that really "gets her" is that they are doing it to her Jesus. She has such a heart to see these people redeemed and set free from the chains of their lifestyles that have lasted just generations.
I have never personally encountered such a true true love for people who don't have Jesus.
My personal fleshly desire is to just pray pray pray that God would get them out of this neighborhood NOW! When you love someone, you just want to see them free of the yuck of life, and yet, this yuck is presently where God has her. I am so conflicted in my heart, wanting peace and protection, a fenced in backyard, peaceful nights without being woken up by loud music or knocks on the door from detectives; and yet, I know they are not only OK... but kept as safe if not safer than I probably am in my cozy little suburbian neighborhood. God is watching over them, and longs to continue to move through them to spread the light of His awesome love in a very very dark place.
They are missionaries.
Now, here is my question for myself, and for you. What yuck are you serving in today? Has God called you to live less than comfortable in some way, and even though you KNOW it won't last forever, it CAN'T last forever..... is there a way you can be salty right where you are? Believe in the power of the little things your heart is led to do. Don't let your heart be lied to that the words that you need to speak to a friend, the thanks you can offer the salesperson who is faithfully serving you in some way today, the line you can draw with a person who needs to see the love in your boundaries, the offering of kindness to your spouse who isn't doing the same at the moment, don't make a HUGE difference. I don't know what is on your yuck plate today.... but you do. Just stop with the excuses, and step out.