Colossians 4:6 - Seasoned Speech

 Winter weather prompted making butternut squash soup for supper last night. We prefer to roast the squash before putting it in the blender. Squash alone is pretty bland; so I roasted onion and red bell pepper as well. Then added some seasoning: rosemary, oregano, pepper.

Even with all the other ingredients, the soup still needed salt. But have you ever slipped with the salt? Maybe you followed a recipe, but used a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon? Or had the lid fall off the salt shaker? Not enough salt makes food bland and unappetizing. But too much salt makes you want to spit it out.

Colossians 4:6 says, "Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person." (New American Standard Bible)

It can be tough to respond to people. Their comments can be obnoxious. Or foolish. People sometimes talk without thinking. Or maybe they are thinking and making statements calculated to irritate or demean.

That's why it takes grace to respond with just the right amount of salt. Enough to make them want to take in what we have to say, but not so much leave a bad taste in their mouth.

Give us, God, the graciousness of Jesus to know how to say the right thing at the right time. Amen.