A couple of years ago we received a wonderful series of
Bible stories on CD retold by the gifted storyteller Elaine Blanchard. Recorded
in her own voice, “Elaine has
taken Bible story favorites, dusted them off, added a dash of delight and humor
to create a collection of twenty-seven stories for children.” (http://www.elaineblanchard.com/about.html)
My little buddy was having a particularly hard time going to
sleep the other night. I was sitting with him while he was listening to his
stories, and I happened to catch the names Sarah, Abraham and Lot. Not
listening closely, I asked, “Oh, is this the story about when Lot’s wife turned
into a pillar of salt?”
William looked up with me with eyes full of terror and said,
“What?!?!? Is that true? Did that really happen? Did God really turn someone
into a pillar of salt?”
I stared at him blankly, panicking at the idea I had
introduced, and quickly attempted to stutter out some sort of response. Of
course this was not one of the stories that Elaine included in her compilation.
What was I thinking?
His questions continued with, “Does God still turn people
into pillars of salt?”
I gulped, breathed a little, patted his chest and tried to
take us through this challenging story that I had unwittingly introduced my
child to. What a gift it turned out to be for both of us.
As we searched for meaning in the story together, we talked
through why God didn’t want Lot’s wife to look back. God was promising Lot and
his family a new life full of hope that would help them to turn away from the
challenges and negative influences they were facing behind them.
I didn’t talk to William about the fact that the two cities
in question were being destroyed and that was why God was asking his faithful followers
to leave.
This has always been a hard story for me because I think
people limit it and use it to attack others unlike themselves. It also has a
lot of family and societal traditions to which I do not relate and find hard to
condone even in historical context.
What I do believe about the story is whatever those people
in those towns were doing, it was not with God in mind. Their hearts and eyes
were turned away from God and instead set on selfish pleasures. I think we can find plenty
of examples today of how we let the world and our own wants take us away from a
loving and fulfilling life of simple needs.
As Jesus said, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a
stone…” (John 8:7)
I asked William what his heart felt like when he felt loved
and looked towards things that made him feel happy. He responded saying it made
him feel good. I then asked him how it made him feel to be angry or to look
towards things that made him mad or sad. I asked him how it made his heart
feel. He said, “Heavy.”
I asked, “Do you think that your heart might even feel hard
in those moments?”
He nodded, still a little confused.
“What do you think a pillar of salt might feel like?”
“Hard.”
“Perhaps a little unstable, too? If it’s salt, it might fall
apart?”
He nodded.
Maybe this story isn’t about God turning Lot’s wife into a
pillar of salt but her causing her own hardness and unstableness by looking in
the wrong direction. When we focus on the hardships of our past and can’t look
towards the future of hope and love that God is providing us, our hearts can be
hardened and weak at the same time. We can become like a pillar of salt.
William finally decided he was hot and as his little seven-year-old
self expressed, “Exhausted.” It had been a big talk and a very big discussion
to end the day.
Before I kissed him goodnight, I thanked him and God for the
conversation we had had. It’s certainly not one that I had expected, but it was
one I needed. I told William that our talk had helped me realize that I had
been looking back and worrying about many things that I knew God didn’t want me
to focus on and that in a way I had been hardening my heart. I thanked God for
surprising us with this story and giving us a reminder to look forward. (Luke17:20-37)
With love and light,
LT
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