Clanging Cymbal

Clanging - A loud, resonant, metallic sound. Imagine sitting in a room where someone is hitting a cymbal over and over, again and again, without any tempo, cadence, or musical ability. It would not be long before you would be wanting them to stop or wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. This is what is sounds like to a person who is searching for the love of God, desperately wants to find a place to discover that they are a very, very, well loved child of God, and all they hear is - "well you must be this or that", "if you want to join our tribe you must stop that", "to be a part of us there must be some rules you must follow first," "sure we will let you join the journey with us, but first you must........." All they can hear when these words are spoken is "clang, clang, clang, clang, clang"........ over and over again and again. If there is love there it is drowned out by the loud and constant gong and clang of something else......

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I Corinthians 13

To think that we can somehow make people "holy," or "righteous" by the rules we make, the boundaries we set, I wonder if that is the reasoning of a child? We think we know what God would say or what God would think about certain issues. However, there is no way to see God clearly, we and this earth is just a "poor reflection in a mirror," or as another translation puts it "we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything perfectly." Jesus reminded us of two things: Love God, love people. Does not seem like you can go wrong with that because that we can see clearly. What happens then I choose to let God handle. For now I will just love, and hope I will not be a clanging cymbal.

Namaste'