Conversations

"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone" (Colossians 4:6).

I hang out in Starbucks most every morning. That's not a secret. For me, it's a place away from the telephone to catch up on whatever e-mails have arrived during the night, to check the schedule for the day and to mentally (i.e., with caffeine) prepare for the day ahead. Sometimes I have meetings here. Other times, it's just me.

Especially when it's just me, I overhear a lot of conversations. I don't try to. In fact, being an introvert, I'd just as soon not hear many of them. But honestly some people talk so loudly (like the gentlemen across the room from me today) you can't help but overhear. And what I've noticed over the last few years is how many conversations (at least the loud ones) are largely filled with complaining and negative talk.

You see it other places, as well. Take a look at people's posts on Facebook or Twitter. How many of your friends or followers in those places post largely negative comments, observations, rants? I know I'm guilty of that from time to time, too, until I remember Paul's word to the Colossians. Paul advises them, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt." Granted, Paul is speaking to them about sharing their faith, but as Christians, sharing our faith is something we do in every setting, every context, whether we're talking explicitly about Jesus or not. We share our faith in the way we live our lives—and in the conversations we have.

But what does Paul mean when he says our conversations should be "seasoned with salt"? Remember, this was written in a day without refrigeration or pasteurization. Salt was not just used to enhance the flavor of something (though it does that), but it was primarily used to preserve the food, make it last longer, give it a longer "shelf life." Salt was a preservative. So should our conversation be, Paul says. It should give life. It should preserve others. It should be something that builds others up rather than tears them down.

The easy road to take is to criticize and condemn. That's the focus of our world these days. But it's not the calling of the Christian. We are salt. We are preservatives. We are meant to bring life to our world.

Lord, save me from unhealthy conversation. May everything I say be seasoned with salt. May my words be gracious. May the words I say give life.