Salt & Light

Yesterday the preacher talked about salt and light. The man knows his science and his history. And his bible, of course. He was referring to The Sermon on the Mount, which states, "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 by men." (Matthew 5:13) To really "get" this it helps to understand that salt was a highly prized commodity in biblical times...valuable like gold, only perhaps more useful. People used it as currency. It cured meat, seasoned food, made fires hotter (chemistry!)...According to the Salt Institute, it has more than 14,000 known uses.
Jesus is telling us, "You are the most valuable and useful on this earth." As Pastor Scott put it, He is calling us to be salty, and to maintain our saltiness lest we be trampled by our own humanity. What a switch of focus for most Christians. We focus on giving, helping others. Jesus is reminding us that as His vessels, we can't give away what we don't have.
He continues,  “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 14-16). So we're called to be useful, and to maintain that usefulness, also to be openly good on purpose and with purpose. It reminds me of a parenting concept called "living out loud", in which we go about our daily tasks with narration so our children can hear the thought processes that go into our choices. It's not ostentatious or glamerous. But boy will it keep you accountable.
My oldest (affectionately called Thing 1) volunteers helping at Children's Church. Yesterday she said, "Mom, what did you learn in big people church today?" I summarized. She responded, "We learned that sometimes you are supposed to give even when it's hard. But then you feel so good about it." She gave away her gold dollar coin to help the poor. "At first I didn't want to, but I did anyway. I'm proud of myself," said my daughter. She didn't even mention that as the "helper" she set an example for all the little ones. She gets it.

Theme of the day: JIVE

Yizzall bizzetter mizzove! The snow days are getting to me. Right now 5 kids (for real, just counted) are in my kitchen. I am hiding. FIVE kids, at least 4 of which have high IQs. Which means although they cannot individually best me ('cause I ain't no dummy), they can gang up on me. They just made lunch. With menus. And coffee. Seriously. No way I could make that up.

SO, I turn to Jive. Yes, Jive. Yes, I'm a white girl--or at least so far no blood relative has fessed up otherwise--but I was raised in the South and...yeah. Oran Juice Jones, "Walking in the Rain", now posted on my Facebook via YouTube. My step sister, "Ro" (we all get nicknames in blogland) is the ONLY other person in my universe who knows that song. And has it on her phone! Along with Double Dutch Bus by Frankie Smith...which also got linked on my FB. Izzokizzay! ADD then led my mind to the Jive scene from Airplane. What a hoot! (Translation: Wizzat a hizzoot!). Barbara Billingsly, may her "soul" RIP, nailed it.

I went into the kitchen and talked some Jive, sang a little, danced a little. My oldest asked to dance the polka, 'cause she is cool like that. I stole a sandwich from the sandwich tray. The Fab 5 trotted out the door with Walmart bags and a hammer. Yes, I gave the safety speech: "Don't put the bags on your heads 'cause you could DIE." and "Nobody plays with the hammer but Nature Boy." (Well it IS his hammer. File any complaints at YeahIsaiditblog.blogspot.com.

Just our version of a normal afternoon here in Dysfunction Junction.

Welcome to Dysfunction Junction!

Sometimes it's laughter that keeps us going. Crying is cathartic and cleansing; a good chuckle brings energy. And then there's this entire spectrum of emotions between. I'm Marti, aka Mama Shrink, a mom of 3 boisterous girls, psychotherapist and artist who also flies the flag of ADD.  Newly divorced, reconfiguring life, learning how to be myself again...the list goes on. Life goes on. Really. Whatever you've been through,  know you have the choice of how to react. I choose this.