Today I drink bone broth straight
from the white mug
a friend gave me, years ago,
inscribed with lyrics, in red:
“I Love You, Lord” . . .
(and I lift my mug).
No kidding. Someone made a mug of my song.
Is it soup yet?
Four months of daily chicken soup translates to gallons. I’m a leaky vessel, swamped in broth. Still sick.
And still curious. How can I make this taste better?
Varying fresh herbs and aromatic veges subtly alters the taste. Chicken and rice enrich nutrition and texture. Peas add a jolt of green.
But it’s salt—cheap, elemental salt—that unlocks all the hidden flavors.
My mother once read me a tale built around an insecure father’s question, and his youngest daughter’s unforgettable answer.
“How much do you love me?” he asked.
“As meat loves salt, ” she replied.
Years passed before he finally understood what she meant.
Even longer ago, Jesus told his followers, “You are the salt of the earth.”
In a long season short on answers I understand this as never before. Salt offers a foretaste of heaven.
Salt mingles. It balances unwanted sweetness; it also suppresses bitterness. Too much kills.
The right amount evokes nuance and satisfaction.
Blah, bland, blashly
For 60-some years I’ve disliked broth. Too boring. In a word, blashly.
Go back 200 years and you’ll find blashly describes overcooked veges and thin soup.
However.
Sometimes what heals us … at first, repels us
Who knew a mess of used bones
plus the right herbs and aromatics
would (eventually)
generate healthy craving?
Refilling my mug, I give thanks for curiosity—seemingly hard-wired into our psyches.
And there’s this: Salt plus sound displays singular, hidden magic.
Curious?
Click here to watch this brief video: Using a tone generator, the experimenter shakes table salt over a vibrating metal plate. As the pitch rises, the salt granules form new, increasingly complex patterns, for each tone, a different design.
Here’s to the hidden dance of salt.
You only get one life.
Please. Be the salt.
Photo: Dan Michael Sinadjan on Unsplash
Read “As Meat Loves Salt” (also known as Cap O’ Rushes)
More about the marvels of salt, by Margaret Feinberg
You might also like “Learn to Sing out on a Limb”
How amazing to see that salt really does dance and hold its own tuneful pattern, altering itself with a higher frequency! Maybe we emulate it with a salty dance of faith that reveals the image of Christ as it sings out in us. And the changing pattern could be our individual response to the resonance of pressure, unique for each one of us. For some it might be seen as engaged listening to the troubled, in others as lifting and drinking their cup of suffering, including weakness, sickness and gallons of bone and vegetable broth. Laurie, I so wish your diet could be more varied and that sickness would depart from you soon. But I cannot help but love the way it is deftly drawing out the deeply contemplative, sympathetic, and generous heart you have. Sending healing prayers and hugs. xo 💜
Dear Joy, I too was amazed by the video — as well as the person(s) who first thought to try such an experiment. Your insightful observations broaden the metaphor in terms of human experience and endeavor. Thank you for sharing. And thanks for the prayers and hugs! Sending a few your way now . . .
❤️
Thanks, Susan!
That video is AMAZING, bringing new insight to “You are the salt of the earth.” Together as the body of Christ, functioning as he intended, we DO create beauty–each grain an integral part of the full design. / I’m terribly disappointed to hear you are still suffering. And you’re being such a cooperative patient too! God Almighty, hear our prayers for Laurie! Deliver her from this lingering illness; honor her with healing (Psalm 91:15). Save Laurie from this distress and we know she WILL give exuberant thanks, proclaiming your works with songs of joy to all (107:21-22)!
Nancy, I agree wholeheartedly about the video. And I appreciate the way you’ve enlarged the salt metaphor, underlining the community aspect in the changing designs. It makes the marvel all the richer.
And thank you, thank you for those heartfelt prayers and verses. May it be so!
Just popping in to send a virtual hug. I so appreciate your words. Even as you are healing, so gracious! The video is excellent~we are part of a wondrous creation!
Michelle, how delightful to hear from you today! Thanks for that virtual hug. I’m glad you enjoyed the amazing video. Dreamer forwarded me the link, having viewed it as part of an online class on sound therapy he recently completed. Like you, I love witnessing the endless intricacies of creation.
You are precious, you are loved. You are a spice in this world that I couldn’t imagine doing without. May the Holy Spirit so indwell each cell of your body that there is no room for disease. May the creator and sustainer of the universe continue to uphold you through the bitterness and brashiness of this time. You are a gift.
Sarah, dear heart, thank you. Your words are strong medicine, yet delicate, healing, encompassing as gauze. I feel gift-wrapped. And so grateful. Love you!
Oh my word, “be the salt.” How your words inspire in the middle of these impossibly challenging times. Laurie, your life is seasoning to draw others to Christ. Praying for a continued, complete healing.
Much love.
Dear Jody, thank you for zeroing in on those three little words. When they dropped into my mind and shot out my fingers they felt potent and true. You know all about that experience. It’s one of the reasons we keep trying to say what we mean, yes?
I treasure your continuing prayers and faith in my behalf. Thank you, friend.
You are an incredible blessing, beautiful Laurie. In season and out of season, as you’ve pioneered contentment and faith in the face of immense challenges, you salty girl, you are a blessing!
Katherine, I am flashing on Peter Sellers with his pumped-up parrot and pirate get-up—”I’m just an old salty seadog.” Thanks for the chuckle. And thank you, as ever, for reading and responding and encouraging me. You’re priceless.
Oh precious Laurie!!! I am sooooooooo sorry that you are STILL ENDURING THIS! Glad of course that you are hanging in there, worth your weight in salt in your faith and fortitude, but lamenting that the infection lingers on and on and on. I know salt can kill germs. Let’s pray that that is another effect for you–killing off germs in your system. Amazingly, my internist said that my “bloodwork” revealed I don’t get enough salt! I watch while others meticulously peruse labels to identify hidden salt in their food, and I’m to unabashedly, liberally shake it on mine… I mean, to the tune of one extra tsp per day! I asked the internist how I should get the salt: “A teaspoon dissolved in a glass of water?” Offering her expert medical opinion, devised after numerous years of rigorous training, she aptly replied, “Oh, yuk!” I’ve found that if I shake it over the course of several meals, the food tastes marvelous. And I am thinking that my spirit surely needs more salt . . . not in the one-time spiritual-retreat high kind of dose, but sprinkled throughout the valley days, where I shake it on my soul as I go. Praying your steady stream of salted bone broth will revive your gut and return gusto to your days! Thank you for your willingness to document your journey so artfully. You are always salt and light for the weary soul.
Muchlove
Lynn
Dear Lynn, thanks for connecting. Your words always encourage and further deepen my understanding.
And how doubly delicious that you get to enjoy salt, guilt-free! I felt a twinge or two, writing this post, knowing many people must steer clear of salt. The daily journey of finding (then accepting) and hopefully savoring the true spice of life sure differs for each of us.
I love this aim of yours, to experience the salt of the spirit “sprinkled throughout the valley days, where I shake it on my soul as I go.”
And the word GUSTO! Yes. ALL CAPS. It will return and I will once more pull off my heavy coat and raise it over my head and jump up and down, wave that gusto in for a landing. Hmm. Maybe I should practice the moves right now . . .
Oh my goodness, Laurie. You’ve taken me on a journey here and carried me with such a range of emotions. First, I laughed at your mug. Then I felt/feel sadness that you are still sick. Then I was inspired by how you wove a lesson on salt and wanting to go learn something and write about it because my words have been few lately. But then just mesmerized by the dance of salt. Just. Wow.
Feel better. You’ve been sick long enough.
Sandy, I’m in total agreement. Lamenting w/ Laurie over such lingering illness and truly astounded that she takes time to bless us with her words of wisdom (so generous) midst her own suffering. she is a wonder.
xo
L
Sandi, you dear, thank you for writing. My words, too, have been far fewer these past months — C. Diff brain is so annoying. So to have a fellow wordsmith find not only sense but a range of emotions evoked is powerfully encouraging.
That hidden dance of salt, isn’t it wild? The same holds true for oil subjected to changing vibrations, or so I’ve read. I wonder what else is dancing around us right this moment? Perhaps we should join in . . .
May your questing mind, intuition, and artistry return to full functioning soon!