Salt & Light

 

It is not meant to  be an "Earth-shatteringly" new concept..... in fact it is a very traditional concept.... but one that is sometimes hard to keep in the forefront of the mind.  

At Mass today, our priest's homily... in helping us to think about and plan for lent.... rather eloquently reminded me of how my life is meant to be a life of service to others.  Believe me that I do TRY to keep that focus, but I am not particularly successful in maintaining this focus in my mind.  I can and often am far too selfish, far too unfocused, far too often failing to do this.

The analogy that our priest focused on related to the ideas of:

Being the salt of the Earth.

and

Being a light for the World.

Being "salt" is akin to being a flavoring to help make the world better.  That is an obvious way to be of service.  But the idea of being "salt" also had me thinking ABOUT salt and how it is a critical mineral that is important in enzyme function in the cells of our body.  Salts, and most any mineral you can find listed on a mineral supplement you may take..... are part of what are called "cofactors".  Cofactors help to adjust the three dimensional shape of enzymes so that they can accomplish or better perform  the role of facilitating chemical reactions in our cells.  So, from a chemical standpoint, salt can serve an enzyme to allow it to function as it should and the enzyme serves the cell by allowing needed chemical reactions to occur more easily with less energy costs.  

Being "light" is akin to allowing folks to see.  To be light would mean to be able to illuminate ideas/thoughts that would build others up, to help others.... to SERVE.  And, as I thought about it more, I was thinking of how the photons of light energy are what stimulate the disks in the rods of our eye to elicit the firing of neurons in our retina to allow us to see.  And, I was also imagining how these same photons of light stimulate the chlorophyll in a plant cell to generate energy.  The neuronal firing is a message or signal, and the energy produced by the plant serves as food.  

I just thought I would jot down the rather random thoughts as associations I felt while I was contemplating how I could become a better servant..... how I could more successfully serve.... how I could better become who and how I should be.  

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