Have you tasted food without salt? Walang lasa… bland… no spice, no life… boring… How about salty food? Di rin pwede.. it’s bad for the kidneys; no good for the liver either. Hubby’s dad used to say to me: Chi chia – kiam chia yah tiong iao. In cooking, ‘salty or bland’ is very important. It is also good to be consistent. Why change the method when the product is good? I often tell my cook – ‘Ok na itong niluto mo.. tandaan mo paano mo ginawa.’
Why am I talking about salty and bland? We Christians are encouraged to be salt and light of the world. Same principle applies – it is not good to be too salty. Being too bland or too blunt? No good either way. What good is salt if it does not add taste to the food? Conversely, how about speaking the truth in crude and unkind manner?
Let me cite an example. How does a Christian deal with gossip? What to do so that it will not turn out too salty or too bland?
I once heard my mom speaking to someone on the phone. I do not know what she heard, I remember her reply: “Don’t tell me about this. I do not want to listen to this.” I suspect that it was gossip. What a direct way to stop gossip in its track. Not bland at all!
But that was one on one gossip. How about when in a group? What did I do? I changed topic. 😂😜 I divert their attention to talk on other stuffs. I didn’t want to be too salty. But what about being bland? Well, I subtly suggested that the person tell it directly to the person being talked about – her concerns and observations. In other words, perhaps it is good that you tell her directly so she’s aware of her ‘weaknesses’ (or wrongs). And she did. She talked to the person one on one and iron out the issues – problems resolved.
Bottom line: Christians are not to be too bland or too blunt. Tu hoh kiam chia – just the right amount of salt and food tastes so much better and healthier. Don’t you agree? 😋