The Children of Israel wrote on their lintels. 

 

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."

 

The idea was to remember those intentions every time they passed through. I have seen sweet messages on welcome mats, and inside foyers that invoke God while friends enter. Our door bears no such markings, though I wear silver bracelets that are engraved. One has the Ten Commandments, and the other the recitation about love in Corinthians. They clink together as I work,  like tiny bells. The priests in Israel wore silver bells on the hem of their garments, that made music as they walked. 

 

A friend told me about her bracelet. She and her sisters have shared one inscribed with the Lord's Prayer over the years. As their need for comfort ebbs and flows they pass it between them. No doubt the power increases with travel.

 

One time she lost it. It was distressing, and she hunted for it. To ease the pain her husband and daughter bought another for Christmas which was lovely. Sometime later she took a skirt out of her closet to wear and there was the bracelet waiting in the pocket. She returned it to the original owner, whose turn had come to need mindfulness. As a society we believe that wine and cheese and bank accounts improve over time. Some of us trust in the accelerated energy of prayer. 

 

A friend was feeling sluggish in her marriage. She decided to reread old love letters, the ones on actual paper, from when they were dreamy eyed and young. She was astonished at the flood of affection that came surging back through the wormhole that is time. Her own words, and his, were positively gushing with adoration. She felt herself transported to another era, a different place than the one she now inhabits. The one where routines have replaced spontaneity, and compromise has edged out curiosity. 

 

She told me that the memories changed something inside of her. It was almost as if she discovered her love again, after having having tucked it away. It turns out that some things should be kept out in the open.