Daily Post: Jangle
Yes, I know, it’s a little early to be counting the days until Christmas. It seems to me I just about get the last tinkling vestiges of Jingle Bells out of my head, when the tintinnabulations of White Christmas drone on in my mind like an incessant ear worm. I love the music of the season of giving, but let’s don’t start in October this year ok? Listening to Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer or Hippopotamus For Christmas over and over, is nothing short of cruel and unusual punishment. Take the chestnuts out of the fire and eat them already! Don’t promise me you’ll be home at Christmas if you can’t make it happen.
The Daily Post word today is jangle. As in the clinking, clanking sound of the 50 keys dangling from the janitors belt, as he makes his rounds to every door in the building. The sounds aren’t really musical notes per se, the keys just make a discordant metallic ring as they bang in to each other with every stride. The jangle inside my head these days appears to be this kind of sound; it is growing and I’m not sure how to stop it.
I listen to the rhetoric on Capital Hill, or read the endless stream of articles from internet news sites, until the information itself blurs into a nonsensical cacophony of tones all clambering to be the loudest. I’m powerless to do anything to effect the G20 summit meeting, nor can I stop Kim Jong Un from launching an ICBM toward Dallas, Texas. It’s not in my purview to make the Democrats and Republicans get along so that they can actually serve the American people. It just seems so clear that many things in this world are way beyond my pay scale, and the clanging in my head is a signal of something else entirely!
The noise I hear is not a noise at all. It may be imagined or real, I really don’t know. It is the sound of voices, hundreds of thousands of voices, all with different timbres and timing, shouting, saying, or singing “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased!” – Luke 2:14 The voices of the angels ring out to earth today just as they did over 2,000 years ago. The sound of this heavenly host, combined with the intensity of the message, seems more like thunder to some, or war drums to others. For me, it is the crystal clear ring of truth, penetrating into my deepest thoughts, all the way to the core of my being.
The Prince of Peace was given to the world, to all of us. This does not mean all have received this gift, nor in fact do some even believe in the power of this gift to bring peace, must less salvation. Immanuel, God with us, was and is today the only hope of humanity to live in peace. I’m convinced we will one day live in this truth, and how I wish it would be in my lifetime. Things don’t necessarily appear to be heading in that direction though, so what do I do in the meantime?
It’s only 170 days until Christmas. I think this year I’ll use Luke 2:14 to be the jangle in my ear, driving me to live in peace toward those with whom I share my planet. For those who come into my circle, I want the message to be:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased!”
≠
If you liked this blog post feel free to share it on your Facebook page. Send me a “friend” invite on my FB account or sign up by email to follow my blog!
As I was saying... 