Dem Words

There is a story in the Old Testament that most of us have never read, but we know the story well from the old folksong, “Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.” In this story, the prophet Ezekiel is taken by the Spirit and put down in the middle of a valley. As Ezekiel looks around he discovers that the valley is full of bones. The Spirit causes him to walk around and he sees that these bones are very dry. After he’s had a chance to see the devastation and lifelessness, the Spirit asks him, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

Imagine you are Ezekiel. What would you answer? Ezekiel answered, “Oh, Lord God, thou knowest,” (Ezekiel 37:3).

The Lord then commanded Ezekiel to speak to the bones and prophesy that the Lord will “cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live” (Ezekiel 37:4-5). And the bones began to move and to attach to one another, and sinew and flesh was restored to them, and they were covered with skin and filled with the spirit.

Obviously this is a prophecy of restoration, resurrection, and life, but there are other things for us to learn from this story about words and their power. What would have happened if Ezekiel had answered the question “Can these bones live?” by saying, “No way!” That’s the natural response most people would have. But Ezekiel says, “You know they can.”

Likewise when we face difficult life situations such as bad relationships, health impairments, financial woes, or anything that looks as hopeless as a valley full of old, dry bones and the adversary tempts us with thoughts of discouragement and hopelessness, we can say, “But God can fix this.”

The words we choose to speak and say have power over us. Words of faith bring about feelings of faith.

Happy, Salty Tears

Did you ever wake up feeling so happy and blessed that you break out in tears? I've never had that happen before, but today is the day.

It is so strange because it is the thought of salt that makes me cry, and as the tears trickle over my cheeks I remember that tears are salty and cry even more because more salt make me think about Mary "salting" and swaddling her child. I see her tenderly cradling her son, and I feel her love because I've cradled a son and daughters and I know that intense feeling--it's so much a part of me that it's not just in my heart, it's in my bones and muscles and flows in my blood. It's me.

As I feel that love I think about how the child Mary cradled would grow to be a man and that the love Mary felt for Him would be so different from the hate the world would throw at Him. That hate became so intense they crucified Him, and He allowed it to happen--because of me. He sacrificed Himself for me! And then I shed more salty tears and think about how all the sacrifices under the law of Moses were salted and that the salting of His swaddling was a foreshadowing of His sacrifice.

I don't know why this research on salt has affected me so very much, but it has. Everything I see and do reminds me of salt. Besides eating it every day as I watched people throwing salt on their sidewalks and driveways during the recent storm so that the ice would melt, I remembered all the times the Savior has melted the iciness in me.

In short, dozens of times a day I encounter salt and think of my Savior so that my heart is full to overflowing. And this morning it's all spilling out.

Lot's Wife

Many of the symbols we find in the scriptures have duel meanings. They are good for the godly and turn into evil for the sinful. For example, water is a symbol of purification, through washings and baptism, but water can also flood and destroy the land and a people as it did in Noah's day. Fire is a symbol of the Holy Ghost and like water a symbol of purification, but fire can also destroy as it did in Sodom and Gomorrah. In many places in the New Testament leaven is a symbol of corruption and decay and the spreading of evil, but in other places it is used to mean the expansion and spreading of something good. This dualism is also true with salt. Salt is necessary to sustain life, can preserve, purify, enhance, and is permanent. But too much salt can kill, make the land infertile, or cause health problems.

This is illustrated in the story of Lot's wife. When Lot and his family were commanded to leave Sodom and Gomorrah they were told not to look back, but for some reason not explained in the scriptures Lot's wife looked back and was immediately turned into a pillar of salt. (The picture above is of a woman shaped pillar of salt that to this day locals claim is Lot's wife.)

By looking back, Lot's wife disobeyed God, she broke her covenant to obey, and a broken covenant is the opposite of purifying and enhancing. Broken covenants destroy us. The condition we inherit from either keeping or breaking covenants is eternal--it is permanent. Thus the story of Lot's wife is a warning that rebellion and disobedience can lead to permanent, eternal conditions.

A Covenant of Salt

Several places in the scriptures it speaks of a "covenant of salt" (For example, 2 Chronicles 13:5; Numbers 18:19). And, as I've pointed out in earlier posts, all sacrifices under the law of Moses were made with salt. This tells us that salt was very important. But what exactly is meant by a "covenant of salt?"

Among the many meanings in the symbolism of salt is the fact that salt is permanent. If you crush it you simply get finer salt. It takes a fire of over 1,400 degrees F to melt it. As a matter of fact, salt poured on a grease fire extinguishes the fire. Salt dissolved in water can be recovered by evaporating the water. Salt buried in tombs that archeologists have uncovered is thousands of years old but still good and perfectly edible. The only way to make salt useless, to make it unsavory, is to pollute it with dirt or sand.

Thus covenants made with salt are permanent and can be broken only by pollution from sin. Obviously that means that God who does not sin will never break a covenant. Only we mortals sin and break covenants. Thus a "covenant of salt" is a permanent, lasting covenant that if not broken brings great blessings into our lives.

Sustaining Life

I'm still researching salt! Who'd ever have thought there was so much to learn about salt. As I said before one of the reasons salt takes on so much symbolic meaning is because it sustains life. I could write a book about that (someone already has!), but the bottom line is that water and salt regulate all metabolic functions of the body. Without salt we would die.

The lists of all that salt does in the body is amazing, but let me just share a few of the things I've found.
               Salt stabilizes irregular heartbeats;
               extracts excess acidity from the body's cells, particularly the brain cells;
               balances the sugar levels in the blood;
               generates hydroelectric energy in your body's cells;
               increases conductivity in nerve cells for communication and information processing;
               enhances absorption of nutrients through the intestinal tract;
               clears mucous and sticky phlegm in the lungs and sinuses;
               provides body with a natural antihistamine;
               regulates sleep;
               is an anti-stress element for the body;
               helps prevent muscle cramps;
               preserves antidepressant neurotransmitters.

So when the Savior tells us to be the salt of the earth, it includes the fact that we should help sustain life in any and every way we can.

Winter From My Window

Winter From My Window

 

Usually when I look out my window, it is the vast blue sky that dominates the view. But today all I can see for as far as I can see is a thick, white blanket of snow. The grey sky blends in making the world unusually uniform. Every branch of every tree is a thick white stick, except for the evergreen trees whose never dying green peeks through bowed branches as if teasing me.
I love winter. As I write I'm cuddled in a warm electric throw Mr. J surprised me with a few weeks ago saying that he had the perfect gift for me and couldn't wait until Christmas. I'm so glad he didn't.I love it. I love the feeling of being cuddled and hugged. That's why I love my down filled coat that I finally get to wear after it's hung lifeless in the closet all summer.

But it isn't just cuddling and enjoying the beauty that makes me love winter. Going out in the snow (as long as you don't have to stay until you are chilled through and through) is an adventure and makes me appreciate coming back indoors all the more. I was running errands when the storm hit yesterday and I laughed all the way from the mall to my car as huge flakes of white chill settled onto my head and face. I didn't use an umbrella or hat because I wanted to feel it--to be part of it.

In short, I love winter... and summer... and spring...and fall. I think what I'm most grateful for is the variety. What a boring life it would be if were always spring.

Eating Salt

Besides being a religious symbol, salt is a universal symbol of alliance and friendship. In cultures all around the world going back for centuries in time it is well attested that when one shares salt with another a bond of friendship is established that requires each to protect and come to the aid of the other in time of need. This was so recognized in many cultures that people often tricked others into eating salt with them so that an alliance would be established. Even if done through trickery, a salt alliance was upheld.

This tradition is part of the New Testament, but it has been lost in translation. For example, the book of Acts begins with Luke explaining to Theophilus that Jesus taught the people for forty days after his resurrection. Then Luke says, “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem” (Acts1:4). In the original Greek the phrase that is translated as “being assembled together with them” is literally “to take salt in common.” This would have meant something important to Theophilus.

The apostles often “ate salt together.” The very night of Jesus’ betrayal, Judas shared salt with the Savior, and that is why in the beautiful painting of the Last Supper by Da Vinci, if you look closely, you see that Judas holds a bag, presumably the silver, in his right hand, and his left hand has just tipped over a bowl of salt—depicting the fact that Judas had broken the fellowship and the covenant of friendship. He was a traitor.