Grace and Salt

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

Our mothers taught us a very important lesson very early on in our lives. My mom still has to repeat it to me often: "If you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything at all." For many of us first responders, that would mean we would be silent most if not all of the time. Obviously like Colonel Sanders so eloquently put it in Water Boy, "Momma is wrong again." We should absolutely speak up to correct lies, wrongdoings, and injustices. Your point of view matters. We have the right to share our opinion on any topic any where. That is freedom protected in the First Amendment. 

We have an ongoing crisis of people not being able to have conversations with dissenting opinions anymore. So many conversations today are fueled by emotions and personal attacks. If you don't think, vote, and "feel" like me, then you are inferior and the enemy. I don't know where we went wrong, but this has to stop.

Food companies have long learned that the combination of sweet and salty will keep people eating more. The same can be said for sweet and spicy. The juxtaposition of these flavors often leads me to eat a whole bag of trail mix or kettle corn when I intended to just eat "some." When our words are "gracious" and "seasoned with salt," people are willing to hear more of them. In order for us obey God's command, we need to pray before and during any conversation. We should view each other not as opponents, but as equals. We must slow down and choose our words wisely- words that build up not tear down. We must not let our emotions steer any conversation. Just because we have the right to say something, doesn't mean we should. We should seek to listen for understanding, and we should find and build off of common ground. It is my experience that many of us want the same things in life. We just have differing methods on how to get there. When this isn't enough, we must agree to disagree. 

 My hope and prayer is that civility will be restored to our relationships and to this world. God can do it when we His people follow His plan for our speech. 

May the LORD bless you and keep you!

Senior Captain Bobby Delgado

HFD Chaplain