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Just HOW much salt goes in mashed potatoes??



Cooking Class with Kellie


I remember the day almost 30 years ago when I called my mom to ask about how to really make mashed potatoes... I had watched her peel the potatoes, cover them with water in the pan, allow them to boil, drain the water, add butter, add salt and pepper, add milk and mix... But just HOW much butter, HOW much salt, HOW much milk???

As a newlywed wife Kellie is working hard to learn to cook, so we have been having weekly cooking class.... at her house.  My goal is not to put it all together while she watches, rather I watch (and offer suggestions!) as she prepares the meal.  We have had such fun, mostly because I remember asking so many of the same questions to my mother and grandmother.  Often the answer I received was the same one I am giving now when the question is how much to put in... "just enough."  What is just enough??  Great question!
Just in the past 2 days I have a couple of interesting experiences with salt.  /

I was slicing a watermelon the other day and, yes, sliced right through my finger.  After a few hours, Frank suggested that I soak it in salt water.  I knew it would sting; his answer to my concern... "it will heal better and faster, is it worth a little sting?"
In our mashed potato cooking lesson, we tasted from the pot, and agreed... needs more salt, much to bland!

My Bible commentary charges that in Palestine, salt had 3 characteristic uses.
1. It was used as a preservative.   Lacking salt meat would putrefy, but with salt it was preserved.  As believers we have the ability, the responsibility to be the conscience of scripture in our world.  Do our words speak against wrongs and for rights n order to further God's kingdom?
2. Salt was used for flavoring.  Do our words, and even our presence in the lives of others, bring encouragement, bring hope, bring joy.  Does the "joy of our salvation" show, or is our light dim, covered, or even discouraging?
3.  Salt was used to grow good things.  Do we lift other up just by our presence?  Do we "carry with us a breath of Heaven" so that things/people flourish and are pointed to Christ?

Words can be our best friend and our worst enemy.  When spoken in love, with the right amount of salt, even challenging accountability can be met with grace and understanding.  Criticism in its negative, cutting form is nothing more than daggers being thrown to bring hurt and pain.  Our words should never be spoken to hurt, so are there moments that words should be halted.  Absolutely!  The Bible clearly states for us - they will know we are Christians by our love.

In Luke 14, Jesus spoke, "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out."

He meant business, didn't he?   Friends, we should make a difference in this world, in our homes, in the grocery store... not a fake, put on a happy face, difference.  Our conversations should sound different, our priorities should look different, our choices should be different.  Let's just lay it out here, we have the hope... the hope of Jesus Christ and an eternity of glory with our Heavenly Father.  Do people that see us throughout the day know???  Even more, do the people closest to us know??


Oh Heavenly Father, challenge our hearts to be different because we know you.  May our hearts be so filled to overflowing from our time spent with you that other see our light and taste our saltiness. Amen


Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:6.


 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. 
 John 13:35











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