Saturday, March 25

 You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

You are the light of the world. A city build on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5: 13-16 (NRSV)

These were the verses we chose to guide us on a mission trip to Mexico last June. I had no idea, walking through the Cancun airport in our bright t-shirts embossed with a salt shaker and light bulb, how guiding those words would be.

At the construction site for the school, the local Mexican workers, clad in their flimsy sandals, shined their light upon us. We, the work boot clad mission team, shined it right back on them.

With Lucio, it was his infinite patience. He taught us how to build walls with mortar and cinder blocks. Lucio was cheerful and bright even when sections of our wall needed to be taken down and re-built.

Brightness surrounded Juan and his infectious friendliness. We were able to joke constantly, oblivious that we weren’t fluent in each other’s language.

At times, our team was the salt of the earth. We were a well-oiled machine, manually mixing cement, no easy task, passing buckets along the chain to elevated Jevahirian boys pouring columns.

The brightest lights and tastiest salt may have been at Vacation Bible School. The smiles on the local Mayan children’s faces were contagious. The language barrier disappeared while we did crafts and played games. At times, it was difficult to ascertain who was having more fun, the kids or us.

Bright and tasty God, thank you for guiding us to be the salt and the light. Amen.

Julie Wagner