Salt and Light
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My Lord, you ask us to be salt and light
Accept your grace and mercy then extend
Put God and neighbor first with love, insight
In fear we kill each other day and night
Instead we worship doctrine, land, and then
My Lord, you ask us to be salt and light
We slay each other over being right
In full disdain we mock, we scorn, we rend
Put God and neighbor first with love, insight
Crude jokes abound, constricting hearts, incite
Our thoughts and words and actions God offend
My Lord, you ask us to be salt and light
We take the wider path with full delight
And disobey, don’t even feign pretend
Put God and neighbor first with love, insight
As celebration of Your birth draws nigh
We worship, “Peace on earth, good will toward men.”
My Lord, you ask us to be salt and light
Put God and neighbor first with love, insight.
Susan Irene Fox 
Well said, Dale! In light of the current atrocities of ISIS…your poetic words ring very true and “spot” on…Love in Jesus, Donna
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Thank you, Donna.
Susan
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A beautiful post. As a tag along, I recently heard the phrase that we are “to be a good steward of God’s grace.” How do we (I) do that? The answer is in your repeating line, “… be salt and light, Put God and neighbor first with love, insight.”
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Amen to that, Debbie. Thank you for the addition, and bless you.
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And salt can sting like nothing on a wound 😛 But then it gets all the muck out and gets better.
That just kinda makes it pretty weird to think like that, because really we do not want to hurt others. SO do we put the salt on ourselves…rub it in the wounds to heal them. Oh so many wyas my head goes when I think of the salt of the earth thingy – and we wont even go into light! LOL>
Awesome poem Susan 🙂
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Thank you, B. Should have known your mind would go there! That’s all us humans mucking around with Jesus’ words, though.:-D He’s the one who explains the seasoning; we’re the ones who somehow spin it into the hurt we all feel. That’s why we need to open ourselves his healing love and grace. Thanks for helping make the point. ❤
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Oh my mind…it does like to go all over the place! 😉 Probably not polite to say this here – but – I never did latch on well to social etiquette – just playing devils advocate to a degree 😛 sorry *.*
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Oh, no problem – I got it. Just carried it a step further. No worries! Glad to talk about it, cuz for sure someone else went there too. 😀
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🙂
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This so reminded me of Psalms – a lament of love.
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Oh, I am blushing. Thank you, Paul. Truly, it felt like that when writing it. Thank you.
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A group of us meet every Tuesday evening from 9:00 pm to 12:00 pm to pray for our world and community, For revival and repentance and accountability and we pray as the Lord leads. Last night we had discussion which we normally don’t have. We pray instead . Out of this discussion came the topic of being men of action. Why do we pray accept to move God’s heart and bring about his will. Then a light came on. Who will he use. Us if we will go. When we move God supplies and change is brought about. Will we give it all for change that screams at our door to come in. Oh Lord help me to put feet to my prayers. Salt and Light and love this poem really struck a cord of conformation for me. Thank you Susan.
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Oh, bless you, Tom. Just so you know, I think your words speak volumes, and cause others to think and change their hearts, too.
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Salt and Light I love the whole of being wrapped up in those two assignments.
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The lightest burden, Jane, if we’ll only pick it up.
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Wow! So much good stuff in such a short poem! I really liked “We slay each other over being right, In full disdain we mock, we scorn, we rend, Put God and neighbor first with love, insight.” Ouch and amen! Thank you for helping us stay on task about who we really are in Christ, not letting ourselves be motivated by the circumstances of life but by the other-centered love of God. Blessings.
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Thanks, Mel. Simply overwhelmed by all the national and international news this week. Had to put it somewhere.
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I once did a search on the uses of salt. It is amazing what it can be used for. Being salt and light means, to me, that I need to get down there in the trenchers. Time is flitting.
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Yes, Susan. For me, being salt is not sitting idly by when these things are happening. I must say something, whether it’s in poetry or prose. I cannot keep silent, either about a single murder or government torture. I’m very careful not to jump to emotional conclusions; I read both factual sides of an issue. But you’re right, every day that goes by, we are wasting away in a violent smog of our own doing. (And I’m an optimist.
)
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Well, it is possible to be an optimist and practical.
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😉
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So timely given the events of the last twenty-four hours. Words to study and take to heart. Beautiful illustration too, Susan.
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Thank you, Beth. Those events – and those of the last month – were what prompted the writing of the poem. So sad. Too much violence, too much finger-pointing, not nearly enough understanding and unity. My heart is breaking. From Africa to Israel to our own country, we are ignoring what matters. Each other. We are forgetting we are all God’s children. I am grieving the same question in Revelation: “How long?”
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