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.

Cast Your Burdens

So many of the Psalms speak to my heart. One of my favorites is “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee” (Psalm 55:22). When you really stop to analyze it, that statement is all you need in order to be filled with hope.

First look at the word cast.  It means, “To deposit (a ballot) formally” or “To throw off or away.” So we can deposit our burdens with the Lord or we can throw them away. Both imply that we give them up completely, and walk away from them. In other words, we stop worrying about them.

Next look at the word sustain. It means, “To supply with sustenance or nourishment.” “To give support or relief to.” “To support the weight of.” “To bear up under.”

That last definition is especially insightful to me and takes us back to the original Latin word from which we get the word sustain, sustinere, which is a combination of sub-meaning “below” and tenere which means “to hold up.” Thus we see that the original literal definition is “to hold up from below.”

So to cast my burdens means I turn them over to the Lord so I am free from their cumbersome weight, but in addition to that since I have now put my trust in Him, he will now “hold me up” or carry me. Thus besides being unburdened, He takes me on as His burden and I have none not even my own support. He will sustain, nourish, support, and bear me up. What more could I ask for?