Girls Camp, part 3

WEDNESDAY: Our theme this day was Force Field Activate; Live in the World, Not of It. Lots of fun this day. We got to take part in an activity called bubble soccer. I'd never heard of it. And man was it tougher than it looked.

Later that day when we had everyone at camp including our junior leaders (they are staying with the stake), I gave them a short devotional on light and salt, a family home evening lesson my dad gave a year ago when we were down for spring break to help Ash prepare for her baptism. I thought the message went along so well with our theme that day.

LIGHT AND SALT

For his props he had a light bulb with two wires coming out, a glass jar with water, and some ordinary table salt.

So how old is salt and does the flavor change as it ages? He passed around a salt shaker that my great-grandpa used when he would go fishing. The idea was that salt can be very old but still taste the same.

Salt is essential. It purifies. It preserves. It heals. Salt is old and will never lose its savor through age if it remains pure. It is only lost through contamination and mixture.

Blood is salty. Our tears are salty. Body cells must have salt in order to live and function. We need salt to survive. 

D&C 101:39 "When men are called unto mine everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men."

The savor of men are those who have covenanted to take on his name through baptism to stand as a light to the world. After baptism we are given the Gift of the Holy Ghost who helps us be that light to the world.

[I added this quote when I gave it at girls camp: "We should not try to take ourselves or our children out of the world . . . He needs stalwart [Young Women] who live exemplary lives in the world and demonstrate that joy and fulfillment come not of the world but through the spirit and the doctrine of Jesus Christ." (Elder Ballard, Ensign, May 1989)]

Grandpa then put the two wires into the water and turned the light bulb on. Nothing happened. As he slowly added salt to the water, the light bulb got brighter and brighter.

In Matthew 5:13 "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?"
 

How does salt lose its savor? How does the light in the bulb dim? When more water was added, the salt became diluted and its ability to effectively carry an electrical current diminished causing the light the become weaker. 

[Another addition from girls camp: When we fail to let the true light, Jesus Christ, shine in us by allowing the worldly influences in, we lose our savor and the ability to be saviors to someone who may need our “super powers.”]

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Here's some interesting things about salt:
 

The early saints were first called to settle in Kirtland, Ohio. Then they were forced to move to Missouri and eventually settled in Nauvoo, Illinois for a time. Ultimately they were forced again from their homes to finally settle in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Coincidence? I don't think so. 

The Romans appear to have esteemed salt highly. Its army, for a time, was even paid in salt. This is the origin of the word "salary" and the expressions "worth his salt" and "earning his salt." In fact, the Latin word sal became the French word solde, meaning "pay," and has come down to us in the word "soldier." The first of the great Roman roads was the Via Salaria, the Salt Road. The Romans used to salt their greens, which is the origin of the word "salad," salted.