Tis The Season To Season

Each month I have established the first Sunday of the month for my family to gather. Each person brings food, love and seemingly, more grandkids! For me it was a way to see my children together and to provide a vehicle for them build better relationships with one another. It has worked well. One of the things I do is prepare a soup. I love making soup, because when it is done, it is a little bit of this and a little bit of that and creativity. Yesterday was no different.

I went to the refrigerator grabbing left overs and such and put them in a pot. As it began to boil for a moment I went to the spice and herb cabinet and began to grab different jars and bottles. Carefully measuring…NOT. I poured a little of this and a lot of that. I realized there were things I didn’t have but that did not stop me! The result was simply amazing.

This morning I woke up and not thinking about the dream of last night, I reviewed one from a few days ago. I was on a plane and suddenly the turbulence increased and before the ability to lock a seat belt I was airborne in the plane.

Folks, some of you are in the midst of a turbulent ride. I get in. My wife and I have entered a season similar recently, similar to one of 20 plus years ago. We are “airborne”. But like the plane ride and my trust in the pilot, I have to trust that what I say and what I do in the next few moments will determine where I end up while trusting my PILOT, Jesus! You can super-spiritualize it, defend it, proclaim it and such, but the reality is…you are here!

Yesterday as I made my soup. I thought, what a picture of the church. “A little of this, a little of that.” The end result, oh, so good! Like soup, we have gone through a stage where we have looked about the boiling waters and been able to identify a piece of celery or a carrot, but as the heat has increased the flavors have melded some. (Why is it all my analogies lead to food?)

The soup will be healthy without a spice or an herb but there is something about those that change a soup from simply healthy to providing a zing. Church without seasoning is often a church one can subsist on but with all the “seasoning” out there, WHY?

Jesus said in Matthew 5:13“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” You! You ARE the salt of the earth. There is something in me that is valuable to change making. Salt helps season the “soup”. Seems to me the way we lose our saltiness is not that we run out, but we forget who we are and what we were created for.

There is something else about seasonings. Often times the seasonings are the result of seasons. You may not see any purpose in your season or the seasons you have passed through, BUT I assure you Jesus sees plenty of reason and purpose. He made you to be you. Your season and seasons have produced a seasoning of “little bit of this and a lot of that.” Your seasoning is different than mine. (And most people cry out, “AMEN” when they realize they do not have to be me!) Your seasoning still makes soup, creating a portion of the church that may be different than mine or another’s.

You make look in the “cupboard of life” and see little to work with, but that’s okay, just start. Yesterday I was lacking one of the seasonings I wanted to use, but it did not stop me. I did not feel compelled to run to the store. Life is like that. Just because some “season” is not here does not mean we can not begin to make soup, being the church.

Seasoning takes seasons, a place to start and what you have. Even when you feel as though you have nothing, the Bible tells you, you can bring salt to the mix. Take your season and your seasoning and begin to add it to life!