strike the right note

My prayer corner contains a small Tibetan brass singing bowl. I can strike it with the small wooden mallet, or I can run the mallet steadily around the outside of the rim until the bowl begins to hum. With care and experience, a rich singing tone results and the air is filled with it. I occasionally luck into this moment, and just as fast as it came, it's gone! I keep trying.

But whether by striking the side or by stroking the rim, the bowl produces a vibrating tone that first rings out, then gradually dies in volume, and I lean my ear closer and closer to catch every bit of this sweet music. Eventually the singing stops. However, something has changed. Before the mallet was employed, the room was silent, true - but now the silence is deep with significance. As I focus in on the diminishing voice of the bowl, the world recedes and I am able to be quiet. And I must be quiet in the presence of my Gardener, as God is known to whisper, and I long to hear that still, small voice.

Now that I am quiet, I contemplate the mallet itself. I rub it smooth with a hard tool, and polish it with beeswax as I consider how God is doing the same to me. The small knots in the wood - one of which goes right through to the other side - are signs of where the original branch was pruned. God has pruned me, leaving scars of healing, grace, and mercy, and shaping me for a purpose. As I polish, I see depths of colour and grain in the wood that I had not noticed before - details, facets that otherwise could not have been seen. My loving Parent also polishes me until I shine with Light. Others will see and glorify the Great Artisan who has made this His creature into a thing of beauty as well as a tool fit for its purpose. The work is ongoing ...

And just as the polished wooden mallets strikes a tone out of the bowl, may I strike the right note as I sound out for God. May I always ring true!