Changing My Nothing

Yesterday I was chatting to my friend Adam, who’s around thirty years old. Adam, who has to live with significant autistic/neuro-divergent issues, was explaining how he’s not looking forward to Christmas, because that’s when his dad died, fourteen years ago.

Later I read the old English word ‘reive’ which means to ‘rob, seize, plunder’… It can be spelt reave. Adam’s be-reavement is about his dad being stolen from him.

Adam’s can’t do anything to change the ‘nothing’ of his bereavement.

On Sunday I was reminded of the English tradition of Wassailing. The poor people of the village would sing carols at the houses of the rich and ask for money. Some stories tell of cheerful peasants and generous landowners; others tell of rowdy bands of young men entering the homes of wealthy neighbours, demanding money, food or drink.

When we have nothing sometimes we can be proactive, change our nothing to something, but our methods might not be good.

Yesterday I was reminded… The Napoleonic Wars had left much of Europe reeling. In Austria there was a young priest named Joseph Mohr. Mohr’s congregation was poverty-stricken, hungry and traumatized. Crops had failed and there was widespread famine. In 1816 his church organ was broken – so he wrote a song that could be accompanied by guitars, to convey hope that there’s still a God who cares.

Mohr had nothing. From that nothing he created the carol ‘Silent Night’, that, over two hundred years later, still blesses people.

Sunday was the start of Advent. Christians around the world reflect on Jesus’ coming – his physical birth in Bethlehem, His coming to the heart of the believer, and His Second Coming…

Much of the waiting and preparation for Christmas is active; there’s so much to do! Some preparation of our hearts and minds happens when we come with nothing, and are quiet and still.

This morning, I’m praying for the wisdom to know when to prepare actively, and when to wait quietly… that my nothing may become something.