Give Your Life Some Flavor and Live Out Loud

We had a lively free store conversation on Saturday morning about the importance of being an individual and not fearing what others think of us. The discussion started with an exploration of what Jesus might have meant when he told his friends that they were the “salt” and the “light” of the world. None of us knew much about salt but we agreed that it definitely added flavor to otherwise bland foods.  We also talked about how salt that loses its saltiness isn't good for much.  We discussed how difficult it is when a person loses their mojo and becomes depressed and feels worthless.  Several people said that had happened to them but that it is possible to get it back which we found very encouraging.

Someone made the observation that our friend George uses a lot of salt which made us laugh. Someone else noticed that some of our friends use large amounts of sugar in their coffee as well. This got us talking about some of the flavorful characters we know.


Characters are welcome at the free store and we have met some very salty friends over the two years we have been at Area 15. One of our favorites is our friend Billy that used to sit at our table and write out his “Homeless, Hungry, Please Help” sign and would then wink at us as he left the store and say he was “going to use my credit card.” We agreed that such friends have made our lives much richer by their presence so we hesitate to even call them poor anymore.

Someone suggested that it is very important that we express our individuality and not live in fear of what others might think of us. We talked a bit about how we tend to stifle our individuality so that we can fit in with others. Maybe we don’t really say what we are thinking because we are afraid of what others might think about it. Or maybe we try not to be noticed because we are afraid that we might attract some negative attention. Or maybe we don’t try something that we would really like to do because we don’t want to be criticized. We agreed that this was not a particularly satisfying way to live. Someone suggested that we should take some risks because “if we aren’t living on the edge we are taking up too much space.” For some reason that gave us all a good laugh, even the guys that walked in off the street just for a hot cup of coffee before moving on.

We moved on in the discussion to talk about what it might mean to be the light of the world. Someone suggested that light was vital to life. We thought that gave great significance to our lives. We talked about how light does not exist to be hidden but to be seen and to light up the surrounding darkness.  Someone mentioned the way that a room can light up when someone that you really care about prances in.

There is an old Jewish proverb that says, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Although it might be gratifying and a bit therapeutic to occasionally rail at a cold, dark universe it is ultimately better to get about letting our inner light shine into the dark places of our world.