Un-Toll the Bell
There is a very old saying that goes something like this, “You cannot un-toll the bell,” which means, that once you ring any bell, you are now unable to rush about and gather up the sound waves out there in the air and burry them way out of sight, and then to go into the ears and minds of all the hearers, and then to gather up that sound and erase the memory of the hearing of the bell, and to then carefully burry that also, deep out of sight and hearing, so that there is now absolutely no evidence anywhere as to the bell ever sounding. The similar saying is this one, “You dropped a Clanger,” and this is similar to the first in this way. If you went way up into a “Bell Tower” you would find lots of bells up there, but on the outside of each bell is a frame and a “Hammer” or a “Clanger” and this is what strikes the bell to make it ring or to “Toll.” So if you lift the clanger and drop it, the bell will immediately ring out and advise everybody within a great distance, that someone has tolled the bell or clanged the bell, there is no hiding from the fact, as everybody in a great radius around has just heard it.
The other less common one is this, “For whom the Bell Tolls,” and Church Bells used to ring out and announce to the community events such as; Church Services starting, Weddings, Funerals, Soldiers returning home from Battle, and in some areas in the past, when a Criminal was “Sentenced,” the bell was then tolling to signal their fate was sealed. John Donne wrote this verse in an old poem; “If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.” Here, a “Death” and the bell tolls are linked together, and the community is now aware of the death by the slow and solemn bell tolls, somebody is now forever lost from that community.
Just as people remember the “Bell Tolling,” so unfortunately there are nosey ears with big mouths who gossip and spread abroad what has just been seen and heard, you just dropped a clanger, and often, if the action appears to be too dull and boring, it just gets spiced up and embellished and enlarged, often a whole lot more, to make very juicy gossip, and round and round it goes, just like the clang of the bell, it rings out everywhere. In these days with Cyber-Space, the whole world can hear the gossip in a very short space of time, as pockets and purses everywhere clang out the news, “Incoming Message,” and away it goes being spread abroad again like a wild bush fire, roaring through the land. Camera Phones, can so easily record peoples failings, and these take flight in seconds, get posted around the World, and even end up on YouTube.
Maybe we should all heed the “Golden Rule,” and “Do unto others, what you would have them do unto you.” We all need to “Forgive and to Forget,” as we all have “Dirt” on each other, so let us all burry the past mistakes, and press on to a safer future, where the “Clangers of the Past” are dead and buried, and that is, in the Past. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Each, and all of us come up short of the mark, we all have sinned, dropped the clanger, messed up, we all have “Dirt” on ourselves and on each other, so let us each “Forgive and Forget,” your own and then their failings, and they in turn will forgive you. Now that you are “Forgiven,” it is now time for a better way and better actions, and Jesus Christ offers this to us all, right now. Quote; “It is through the social relations that Christianity comes in contact with the world. Every man or woman who has tasted of the love of Christ and has received into the heart the divine illumination, is now required of God to shed light on the dark pathway of those who are unacquainted with the better way.” {AH 428}
What is a “Better Way?” Here is a verse to assist this point, Philippians 3:14 “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” John 8:32 “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Romans 6:22 “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and at the end, everlasting life.” There is a much better way to live than to be “dropping the ball,” “dropping a Clanger,” falling short, and that is new growth and overcoming
1 John 5:4-5 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” Revelation 21:7 “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” None of us can “Un-Toll the Bell,” we all “drop clangers,” we all “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” so let us love each other, respect each other, and most of all, forgive each other. Remember; “Don’t judge yourself by your Past; You Don’t Live there anymore.
