My middle-son-Steve has a distinctive sense of humor and a joyful attitude about his walk with the Lord.  A few years ago he asked me to make the roasted pumpkin seeds he had enjoyed at a friend's home, following the recipe he had written out with his own touches of originality.

ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS (MAKE LOTS!)

Clean and rinse seeds of ye olde punkn.  Let 'em dry -  

'til they're dry.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees,  

melt butter in large, shallow pan.

Dump a cup of them right in there, and stir 'til each is coated with butter.  Toast in oven about 10 minutes - until light brown.  Season to taste, and taste to season.

As I was making up a batch of these munchies, my amusement turned to a more thoughtful mood when I came to the words, "Season to taste, and taste to season."  We are to be salt and seasoning to the world, as Jesus Christ commands us.  So it is important for us to be sensitive to those people we want to influence, just as a good cook often tastes sparingly of the food being cooked - to know how much (or how little) - to season.

       "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person." (Colossians 4:6 NASB)

Since then, I've tried to prayerfully ask God for opportunities to reach out to those who are hurting, in one way or another.  There are so many who need to taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8)...exchanging recipes with a neighbor, waiting in line at the bank, riding TriMet to work, responding to a friend who is in the midst of financial distress.

May we Christians be the savory kind of seasoning salt God can use effectively in this sometimes distasteful world!