Imagine a gourmet cake with no sugar. Be sensitive to those around you today who may appear ok but are desperately missing something inside.

When was the last time your words came across like a habanero pepper and burned someone’s feelings? Pray about how to make it right today.

In my house, everyone loves cooking shows – perhaps not as much as watching Phineas & Ferb, but as an alternative to building a rocket ship in the backyard, TV food competitions are a reasonable second place.

Besides the obvious no-nos of preparing under/over-cooked food or failure to use a mandatory ingredient, one of the biggest make-or-break factors in cooking shows is seasoning. If the dish is overpowering, the judges won’t like it. If it’s bland, you’re a goner. Finding the right balance of savory and sweet spices can help transform a random assortment of foods that don’t seem to go together into a gourmet dish that the judges rave about.

The Bible has a few things to say about seasoning – and salt, in particular. In the same passage where Jesus told his followers that they were “the light of the world” to illuminate the way to the Lord, he also said that they were “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5). I love the way The Message paraphrase explains what Jesus meant: “You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth” (v. 13a).

Don’t we all know people who wander through life blandly, with no apparent purpose and no recognition of God’s awesomeness? We can be the salt that adds zing to their lives! By introducing them to Christ through a savory balance of our words and actions, then they can come to know the sweetness of being in a relationship with the Lord.

Paul explained this life-seasoning another way in his letter to the Colossians. He said that when we interact with outsiders/unbelievers, we should be mindful of opportunities to share our faith: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (4:6, NIV).

What are your conversations like these days? Are they too spicy and abrasive? So sweet that they mask what’s inside? Let’s focus our prayer time this week on being “salt” to the world around us.

Do you have a big dream? (Or, on the flipside, do you feel uncertain about your life?) Brainstorm with God in prayer about it today.

Psalm 89:14 says that “love and faithfulness” go before the Lord. In what ways does your reputation precede you?

Have you ever been an Also-Ran? Played second string? Second fiddle? How might God use you outside of the spotlight?

Is being humble the same as being a doormat? Is confidence the same thing as pride? Why or why not?

If God extended to you the same offer he gave Solomon, what would you ask for? Talk to him about your answer and why you want that.

I heard a wonderful message this weekend about viewing life’s choices (including those we don’t choose for ourselves) as missional opportunities. Some decisions — like the choice to enter the mission field — stand in stark contrast to the world’s view of success. Yet, the past few months have given me pause to consider what the mission field looks like, after all.

Certainly, the mission field could look like leaving your miserable, unfulfilling job and moving to another continent to teach English. (Been there, done that, got the t-shirt Typhoid immunization.) Yet, the mission field could also look like leaving an apparently very well-to-do job for a lower paying one that is more fulfilling on levels beyond finances.

I don’t mean to be flippant at all … I understand all too well what it’s like to have month left at the end of the money. I have tithed most of my adult life, but in recent years, I have also been fortunate to experience the joy of having excess to give away. It’s a really fantastic feeling to give something away that you could sell, just for the sheer joy of the recipient’s appreciation … because you remember that in the past, you have been the recipient!

One of the most meaningful Scripture passages to me comes from Philippians 4, when Paul thanks his church supporters with these words: “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles ” (v. 11-14).

I have an obligation to ensure that my kiddos are fed, clothed and sheltered, but I am not required to make certain that they have the newest gadgets, hottest fashions or all-inclusive vacations. I don’t want them to be impoverished, by any means, but what I’m trying to say is that we learn to appreciate what we have when we don’t have life handed to us on a silver platter.

Money is important, but it isn’t solely so. I would rather earn less and love what I do than kill myself (quite literally, via stress) trying to live up to the world’s idea of success.