The Salt Lick

We were very naive.
Thick woods surrounded our previous house.
We knew there were deer in the woods, and we wanted our children to see them.
My husband decided he would buy a salt lick.

I had never heard of such a thing.
Sure enough he came home with a big block of salt.
He put it in the meadow, a clearing that he had made in the back of our property.
He told the children that the deer would come.

It was like the novice farmer, Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams.
Build it and they will come.
The deer came; they ate our plants, our shrubs, and our bushes.
I don’t know how much they even enjoyed the salt lick.

I think the salt lick was the invitation they needed: Free food!

Deer intrigue me; I like the way they camouflage among the trees.
I like when they stomp their hoof against the ground to warn other deer of danger.
Their white tail is the only thing you see as they run away.

This is mating season for the deer.
They are very active, darting in front of cars on the country roads.
They are very single-minded in their focus.

I listen to the all-news radio station in the morning as I get dressed.
Each morning this time of year, I hear of another deer that was struck on the highway.
The traffic report warns early commuters so they are prepared.

As I walked this morning, a deer was practically hidden behind some fallen logs.
I was very quiet, thinking perhaps she would stay there and I could get a closer look.
As quick as a flash she was off, darting over fallen branches, running between trees.

Her zigzag motion was a sight to behold.
She leapt over things that were not there.
Her white tail the only thing visible, as she got further into the woods.
I expected to see a buck any minute in pursuit.

It is next to impossible to outrun a deer.
They are agile and quick-footed.
It is their single mindedness that makes it a virtual impossibility.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Psalm 42:1,2)

I want to be like the deer.
I want to be so single minded in my focus that God is all I want.
I want to zigzag around worldly things with speed and agility.
I want to leap over obstacles that would slow me down or hinder my journey.

I want the salt lick of the word of God.
The invitation for free food: free for me; exorbitant price for Jesus.
My food cost Him his life.

Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with each other. (Mark 9:50)

Jesus talked about the fact that we could lose our saltiness.
Salt deposits from the Dead Sea were not pure sodium chloride.
That salt could lose its flavor.

Salt was also used in the Old Testament times when covenants of peace were made.
Jesus talks about having salt in ourselves and being at peace with each other.
Salt for flavor.
Salt for peace.

Like salt from the Dead Sea, we can lose our flavor and become ineffective witnesses.
We struggle to be at peace with each other when we think of ourselves first.

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:6)

Salt is a preservative.
Salt can sting if rubbed into a wound.

Our conversation must reflect our single mindedness.
Our speech and our life is the salt lick someone may desperately need.
What they see in us may point them to the Food that is waiting for them.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights. (Habakkuk 3:19)

I want to be like the deer.
I want to run towards God and dart around obstacles that will keep me from Him.
I want to be flavor-filled, peace-filled, and grace-filled.
I want to bring others to the salt lick of the Word of God.