Out of the Salt Shaker

I have been doing a lot of soul searching lately as I prepare my heart to go to Ireland. I truly am expecting divine appointments. I am expecting what Bruce Wilkinson calls "predictable miracles."
A friend sent me a link from Ravi Zacharias' website. (Until today I thought it was Robbie.) I went immediately to their daily devotion, because that is the kind of writer I am. Fresh manna. I pray I am hearing the Holy Spirit.
I found the following paragraph at the end of their "Slice of Infinity."
"Jesus spoke of influence by comparing it to salt. Salt is not a flashy spice like cayenne pepper or nutmeg. It rarely calls attention to itself as a predominant flavor. Salt is basic. And yet, salt is essential. Without it, food is bland and tasteless, for salt enlivens all the flavors. Without it, decay and degradation ensue, for salt preserves and produces longevity. Salt cleanses and heals. In recipes, salt serves all the other ingredients, bringing them to their fullest expression and flavor. Jesus calls his followers to be influencers in the way that salt influences a meal: often in the background, and not a self-promoting or singular flavor. Influence is like salt, Jesus teaches; it is firmly in the background of ingredients, hardly noticed, and yet powerfully effective in creating a full and lasting result." this was written by Mary Manning.
It immediately took me back to a Bible study I had attended about 20 years ago based on Becky Pippert's book, Out of the Salt Shaker and Into the World. I thought of how that lines up with the teaching I do for Be In Health called You! A Servant Priest. Both a far cry from traditional evangelism.
As I chewed on the article by Mary, I re-read, "it is firmly in the background of ingredients, hardly noticed, and yet powerfully effective in creating a full and lasting result."
That totally described the way my friend, Bridget, lives her life. She was one of the first people I met when I came here over eight years ago. I stayed in a rooming house of sorts called The Bethel Inn. Bridget was a long-term resident. Although I am older than she is, she was like a big sister to me as I sought God for my very life. Doctors had pronounced a death sentence over me.
I have outlived their pronouncement by four years and in fact, the sentence has been stayed. The Lord has used people like Bridget to love on me, correct and cajole me. How rich I am to have friends who have hung in this course correction for eight years!
In the past week Bridget has come to plant a flat of impatiens that Mike gave me, helped me set up for a lawn party of 100, helped serve and then clean up afterward. On Sunday she took several children in tow as the parents took another child to the hospital. She served in registration for the program I am taking this week. On Monday night she ministered to women. Today we had lunch and she was leaving to go babysit for a couple who is moving Saturday. She moves about rather anonymously. She simply does what she feels her Father would have her do. She is very calm and in turn very calming to those of us who wind up too easily.
On the buffet of life, Bridget is a loving, active salt shaker. A little shake here and another over there.
She looks at what needs to be done and quietly does it. She is not a "sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal" but a free flowing salt shaker who seasons the lives of many - most often in the background- with that very basic spice called love.