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Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6
In 2006 I gave up New Year’s resolutions and decided to live
a word instead. That year I learned to live grace. It wasn’t an easy word to
learn, but it changed me. Forever.
I learned grace is an art, and in order to live it I had to
give up thinking I knew the way everything should go and how people should
live. People mess up. We can make it more complicated than that, but in the
end, it’s simple.
People mess up.
We can’t be perfect. We can’t follow all of the rules. We
can’t live untarnished.
It’s why Jesus died on the cross.
Some years later, in 2012, I chose to live salt. The reminder was constant…there are very few tables where
salt isn’t present. I even bought a set of snazzy salt and pepper shakers for
my own table (which until then was missing a set). I learned when living salt
that it is noticed when it’s missing and a little goes a long way. It is also
constant and consistent.
When I came across this verse that included two of my past
One Little Words, it caught my attention and I perked up a bit. It’s a verse
about building relationships with others. It gives advice on conversation.
I think conversation can be tricky. Knowing what to say and
when to say it is difficult and uncomfortable for many. A few years ago, I
realized a lot of people are
uncomfortable when engaging in a conversation. I decided I could be the kind of
person to make conversation feel comfortable.
This isn’t always natural for me. I like to listen. I’m
comfortable with questions and I love to listen to people’s stories. But, I’m
learning conversation is about grace and salt. It’s giving and receiving. Too much salt and my story will overwhelm and
bore. Not enough grace and I miss the gift of other people’s stories.
It is grace and salt that I’m refining as I learn to connect
more comfortably through conversation.(Connect was my word for 2011. I love how they are all coming together.)
