Wind Monsters and Other Nothingness

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A periodic debate at our house is wind chimes vs. no wind chimes. I have always had them. The soft tinkling lulls me to sleep, and often back to sleep after I wake up in the night. (I am not a great sleeper.) As a child, wind chimes served to chase away the monsters that blew in with the wind. The howling and whistling was overshadowed by the gentle music. So why the debate, Last night. This! (see video)
It was a bit windy last night and I am old enough to know there are no monsters in that wind. The wind was really blowing and  the chimes were less than gentle sounding off. Their music was akin to a new age pipe, rock rock concert. Why not take the chimes down? Because I want the music to be there more than I want it gone.
As I study, I am often asked what method I use to study. It varies from season of life to season of life. Currently, I am using the Common Book of Prayer and praying The Daily Office. I have a series of readings, liturgy, and prayers along with scriptures to read and pray through. This morning the prayer I pray most days, spoke to me more that the scriptures, especially this portion:

 We have not loved You with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

 Love... It is easy to say, much harder to really "do." More importantly, we are to "be" love. Pondering the love we are called to embody, I was drawn to 1 Corinthians 13, often called the "love" chapter. What drew me was the  first line; "If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." Sound without love is like that. It is nothing and it is everything. It is empty, yet fills up the void with its nothingness and emptiness. 

 This is the lesson for us and our mere existence. Do we take up space with clanging noise or love-filled sounds? Leading our lives with love first, not rhetoric, tradition, habits, desires, laws, that are void of beginning with love, pure Holy love is nothing more than noise, the sound of a clanging cymbal, a gong or the creaking of a rusty gate. They are useless, annoying and not helpful. Making noise, whether you're speaking or with your life is as nothing as the Wind Monsters of my childhood when love is not present. 

 Today:

  • Be love
  • Surround yourself with love
  • If you need love let me know
  • Watch the video below, trust me - its worth it.

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