Telling Your Story
Golden brown with a perfect muffin top, I couldn't wait to get one of these blueberry muffins on a plate in front of me.
They were my late Aunt Juliet's recipe, and it is my favorite, never fail blueberry muffin recipe. I was looking forward to a muffin and fresh coffee over some fond reminiscing of my sweet aunt. Holiday get-togethers, spending a day at her house as a little girl, the scent of her house, which always seemed to smell like a freshly cooked roast—I know, it's weird—but I was looking forward to rolling some good thoughts around in my mind around Aunt Juliet and her blueberry muffins. The hardest part was waiting for them to cool enough so I wouldn't burn my fingers or mouth.
Some laundry was folded, dishes put away and a floor swept during my impatient wait. Finally, it was time to dig in.
That first bite—here comes the yum! Hmm. It wasn't as good as I remembered! Maybe the taste buds were having a bad day, so I dove in for a second taste.
Nope. Something was definitely wrong. They tasted flat, like they were lacking salt. Wait, the recipe didn't call for salt! Or did it?
Sure enough, hidden at the bottom of the card—salt, ½ teaspoon. Just a tiny bit, but I missed it, and so did the muffins.
What a disappointment! Perfectly lovely muffins didn't quite live up to their potential. Looked great, tasted meh. A little bit of salt would have permeated the mix and brought out the flavor. A little bit can go a long way!
The Bible says that we are the salt of the earth in Matthew 5:18. Someone explained the salt analogy as our goodness or good deeds toward others. Kindness, consideration and helpfulness are all good deeds, and a part of our personal saltiness! We can scatter the salt little by little every day.
It's interesting to watch cattle come up to the salt and mineral lick, especially when the tub has been empty for a bit. They are eager and craving the salt! Your friends and neighbors crave your saltiness, too, just like I craved the salt in my not-quite-perfect blueberry muffins!
The Scripture also says that if the salt loses its saltiness, it may as well be stomped into the ground, because it's useless, worthless and not worth keeping around. I've never had salt go bad or tasteless in my life, no matter how long it's been in storage. Humidity can make a big, hard chunk out of the salt in the shaker, but breaking it up and removing the moisture with a little rice mixed in always saved the salt. That must be some bad salt if it loses its flavor! I surely don't want to be that salt, ever!
The moral of the story is two-fold: a.) read the last line of the instructions no matter if it is a recipe card or an equipment manual because it probably says something important; and b.) keep spreading your savories wherever you go, because wherever you are in this world, your world needs your salt to bring out the good flavor we all need and want.
Bev Berens is a freelance writer and FFA parent from Holland, Mich. She can be contacted at uphillfarm494@yahoo.com.