The Common Link

Never having made a prayer resource like this before, when the instructor handed me a box of colorful stones, a small silver cross and a piece of common wire and said: “Ok, here’s all you need,” I thought: Where do I start? With instruction and time, this was the result. I think it’s rather pretty, but what makes it a resource of personal prayer is the unseen wire that holds it all together. Without the wire, it falls apart.

Over the years I’ve done a lot of counseling, individuals and families. And, of course, I’ve seen how human beings can love tenderly and hate viciously. Some of those counseling times resulted in love discovered or renewed. Some people, though, left in the same way they arrived: broken and still suffering. Those were the sad people whose anger was stronger than their love, whose pride would not allow them to say: “I’m sorry” or “I love you, too.” For the most part, the people who benefitted from the conversations did so because they agreed on a common bond that was stronger than their divisions. Without honest love, the family fell apart.

I love most types of music…most. And even though I don’t know much about notes and flats and sharps (whatever that means), I do know that all those funny looking black shapes on the music sheet don’t produce beautiful music on their own. The only thing that keeps them from tumbling all over each other and producing a horrible sound is something you don’t see….because it isn’t there. Empty space. Empty space between the notes. The space between the notes is as important as the musical notes themselves. Without the empty spaces linking the notes, we would never know Beethoven or The Beatles.

What causes friendships to grow and develop? Two people meet, strike up a conversation, find a few commonalities, enjoy each other’s company, and before you know it, they are friends. Why? It’s not because they are the same height or drive the same kind of car. Go deeper. It’s trust and respect and the joy of the other that makes the friendship lasting, maybe life-long.

A simple strand of wire, love that is willing to sacrifice for the other, empty spaces between musical notes, respect and trust…our lives would be a mess without all the linkages, the connectors that help us find meaning, purpose, and joy. You’ve heard it said: “Everything is connected.” That’s absolutely true, and it all starts here: “He is the image of the invisible God…in him, all things hold together. In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Christ holds all things together. Check it out. Paul wrote it in our Colossians, chapter 1. Christ is the linkage that turns existing into living, bridges the gap between brokenness and wholeness, binds up our wounds and binds us together. So, the obvious question: what holds your life together? Worth thinking about today in your time of prayer and reflection.