Salt of the Earth

"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." (Matthew 5:13). We exist so that we may have joy. We are on this Earth so that we may savor it and all that it contains. The world may be made up of matter, but it exists because it matters to us. It is the care, the attention, the enjoyment that we take - the salt - that makes it The Earth, and not merely something to be trodden under foot. To the agricultural scientist who knows and savors the subtle distinctions, the Earth is clay or loam or peat or silt, each with its own unique and special properties, but to the uninterested and uncaring, it is all so much good for nothing dirt to be trodden under foot. To the astronaut in the International Space Station, the Earth is a wondrous and majestic ever-changing tapestry of beauty to be savored, but to the uninterested and uncaring, it is all so much good for nothing ground to be trodden under foot. We may become positively giddy and utterly obsessed when we are examining and studying and savoring white-tailed warblers or nineteenth century locomotive engines or really amazing street tacos or homemade candles or really comfortable sofas. There is a voice inside each of us, born from fear and insecurity and vanity and shame, that screams that everyone will laugh at us or shun us or hate us if they see us unreservedly and unabashedly savoring the seemingly stupid, weird things that we love. That voice is trying to rob our savor and steal our joy and nullify the entire reason for our existence. God created daffodils because He knew that some of His children would love them to pieces. He created waterfalls because He knew that some of His children would travel hundreds of miles just to gaze in wonder and awe at them for a few moments. He created sand dollars and pygmy goats and portobello mushrooms and amethysts and perfect ski slopes and pristine beaches and babbling brooks because He knew that they would fill our hearts with love and joy as we savored them. The Earth is good for nothing if we do not savor it. The whole world would be wasted if we did not choose to savor and cherish and treasure it in all of the billions of fascinating, captivating, breathtakingly beautiful and exciting and fun and majestic and heartwarming little wonders. It is never a waste to take the time to savor something, to do something we enjoy just for the sheer pleasure of it, never mind what anyone else might think or say or do. We are that we might have joy.