Nothing

Nothing is very important. Nothing matters very much. Nothing has great value. Nothing is extremely critical.

Just so you don't worry, I've not suddenly become depressed and apathetic. Rather, I have been seeing the significance of things that I normally pay little to no attention to, and fail too often to have the proper respect for.

Go back and re-read the first paragraph, imagining the first word of each sentence to be something specific, whatever comes to your mind. You get a very different impression than you did the first time you read it.

Most ancient languages including Hebrew and Latin, when first written down, were strung together in an unbroken line: Itreadsomethinglikethis. What an amazing breakthrough by the early Irish monks who could visualize the impact of separating each word from the next by putting a space between them; just empty space. Nothing. Nothing makes it easier to read.

Numbers play a role in every business interaction and many personal one, as well. If you were Sumerian or Babylonian, your numbers would be stick-like marks that could be counted, but adding and subtracting was not quick. If you were Roman, you could admire the appearance of some numbers, but calculations were more a matter of memorization than actually working them out. Only after the concept of the zero was introduced by mathematicians in India, Persia, and Egypt did we gain the tools to actually do calculations on which are built the formulas for cars, planes, rockets, and so much more. All it took was a symbol for a lack of value. Zero. Nothing. Nothing makes it easier to do math. ;-)

In our lives, we sometimes have days that run from start to finish like old Latin texts without a dividing point between any two parts. We can take a clue from early Irish monasteries and find places to fit in a space to do nothing. This gives us time to be until it is time to do again. Nothing can relieve the stress of a long day.

In the spirit, we see that nothing brings God glory. In the beginning, the earth was without form and void. Empty. And God spoke into the emptiness and created goodness. Only God makes something from nothing. Everyone else modifies what already exists, but only God truly creates something from nothing.

What God has created, man cannot destroy. The scientific laws of conservation of matter and energy have resisted man's most focused efforts to destroy matter or energy; the most man can do is change it from one form to another, but the total amount of God's creation stays the same. Nothing changes.

When we try to bring our talents and skills and strengths to God and show Him what we can do for Him, it comes to nothing. He doesn't need what we have gathered from the world; He created it. God needs nothing from us.

Come to God with empty hands. Bring nothing to Him. Take pride in nothing when you stand before God. Let Him speak His Word into the emptiness of your heart and the chaos and void of your life. Let God create goodness in your life where previously there was nothing worth living for. Let the Word of God be what gives shape and substance to who you are, and give direction to what you do.

As we move in the new creation God has spoken into existence in our hearts and lives, let's continue making empty space. Turn out the resentments and hatreds, and let that emptiness be filled with God's love and compassion. Let the bad things of the world and our own human nature slip away or be forced out, and make room for the Holy Spirit to grow the peaceable fruit of righteousness as we spend time in God's Word.

May God give us grace to walk in His Word, and give Him thanks for nothing.

Father, nothing brings us closer to You than praise. We thank You for Who You are, and we love you. Thank You for living in our hearts and for filling our thoughts with You. We count ourselves as nothing before You, Lord, and ask You to create in us what You will. We love You, Lord.

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