Nursery Rhymes for Adult Spiritual Enrichment

London Bridges

From Wikipedia: "London Bridge Is Falling Down" (also known as "My Fair Lady" or simply "London Bridge") is a traditional English and , which is found in different versions all over the world. It deals with the depredations of and attempts, realistic or fanciful, to repair it. It may date back to bridge rhymes and games of the late Middle Ages, but the earliest records of the rhyme in English are from the seventeenth century. The lyrics were first printed in close to its modern form in the mid-eighteenth century and became popular, particularly in Britain and the United States in the nineteenth century."

In this nursery rhyme, London's bridge is broken down, but a solution to rebuild through material resources seems elusive. If they build with wood and clay it washes away, build with brick and mortar it will not stay, build with iron and steel it will bend and bow, build with silver and gold it will be stolen, set a man to watch over it he will fall asleep and be given a pipe to smoke all night. Manmade bridges will eventually deteriorate and the flesh becomes weary trying to guard the sum of all the materials that comprise the bridge. It's quite apparent that building a society on substances that are temporary and that eventually erode is much more than the human flesh can bear to watch over. That carnal society breaks down. To have a truly solid social structure the bridge that connect us with one another is based on spiritual qualities that endure over time, even through the deterioration of the physical world. The spiritual fruit builds up and creates reassuring bridges as we relate to one another.

London Bridge is broken down,
Broken down, broken down.
London Bridge is broken down,
My fair lady.

Build it up with wood and clay,
Wood and clay, wood and clay,
Build it up with wood and clay,
My fair lady.

Wood and clay will wash away,
Wash away, wash away,
Wood and clay will wash away,
My fair lady.

Build it up with bricks and mortar,
Bricks and mortar, bricks and mortar,
Build it up with bricks and mortar,
My fair lady.

Bricks and mortar will not stay,
Will not stay, will not stay,
Bricks and mortar will not stay,
My fair lady.

Build it up with iron and steel,
Iron and steel, iron and steel,
Build it up with iron and steel,
My fair lady.

Iron and steel will bend and bow,
Bend and bow, bend and bow,
Iron and steel will bend and bow,
My fair lady.

Build it up with silver and gold,
Silver and gold, silver and gold,
Build it up with silver and gold,
My fair lady.

Silver and gold will be stolen away,
Stolen away, stolen away,
Silver and gold will be stolen away,
My fair lady.

Set a man to watch all night,
Watch all night, watch all night,
Set a man to watch all night,
My fair lady.

Suppose the man should fall asleep,
Fall asleep, fall asleep,
Suppose the man should fall asleep?
My fair lady.

Give him a pipe to smoke all night,
Smoke all night, smoke all night,
Give him a pipe to smoke all night,
My fair lady."

Within us there is a divine presence that works to build fruitfulness as we live in our physical world so that we can reach to one another through constructive bridges. Envision how soft our bodies are with flesh, blood, water, muscles, and tissues; as well as envisioning how fragile our bones can be that can be broken, splintered, and smashed. To build constructive bridges to one another we would have to relate to each individual in a way that is considerate of the welfare of our bodily presence. The spiritual being within us is the source to help us to do that. In contrast, imagine trying to build your inner life with wood, clay, brick, mortar, iron, steel, or silver and gold; that would be quite ludicrous because we would succumb to severe consequences. We would be nothing more than a scarecrow hanging on a post, or a sculptor in the center of a garden, or a robot, or an ATM machine; this is quite unrealistic. In the same way, it's impossible to build positive bridges to one another as a scarecrow, a sculptor, a robot, or an ATM machine; which makes it quite obvious why bridges fall between friends and cultures collapse. In this light, we see how ridiculous it is to try to build a society, and even personal relationships, on things made of wood, brick, iron, or Wall Street riches; but quite reasonable how necessary the work is of the deity that lives to create harmony in us and around us. That divine presence works to produce spiritual fruitfulness, tranquility of inner life, harmony through a reverence for the sanctity of life, to make us aware of each individuals divne worth, and to mobilize us with positive energy. With all this happening from within us we are able to transfer those characteristics in our relationship to others to build durabe bridges in our community from the eternal spirit. In contrast, trying to build relationships on carnal, fleshly, or earthy resources deteriorates interpersonal bonds and fragments the bridges we need to function in society. From dependence on materialism we would be desolate of good fruit, be conflicted relating to who has what, lose sight of the sanctity of life in the quest to have at the expense of others, be irreverent to the divine goodness working in the soul, and be consumed with negative energy rooted in the desire for worldly gain. The flesh would grow weary trying to keep watch over a materialistic people in a selfish and savage world.

The moisture of the spiritual fruit are real qualities within us that enable us to build a durable bridge to one another. We connect with others in a positive way through kindness, goodwill, gentleness, meekness, goodness, joy, patience, self-control, love, faith, peace, and perseverance. These are eternal qualities that will exist even though the material world around us falls apart. The spiritual fruit are much different than wood, brick, iron, silver, or even a person's ability to create them. The writers of this nursery rhyme "London's Bridge" knew the temporal nature of worldly resources as well as the weariness in the flesh trying to guard the bridge from collapse. They knew wood and clay would wash away to make the bridge unsuitable for crossing, and likewise trying to build bridges to one another with the dryness of hay mixed with an effort to be social would soon deteriorate. The dryness is like attitudes of hate, unkindness, and ill-intentions in the process of engaging one another; social bridges like that are bound to fragment into interpersonal friction. Durable bridges come about by the fruit of love, goodwill, and kindness that enable us to make a genuine effort to connect with one another in the spirit of harmony. Brick and mortar would not be suitable for bridge building because of the fragile hardness, but is suitable for building walls, and even then brick and mortar will not stay because they easily crack, break, and eventually fall apart. Likewise, trying to build bridges to one another is like trying to talk to a wall if our inner being is as hard as brick and mortar. One person would be as hard as the other and the extreme difficulty of fruitful agreements would cause someone to eventually break and crack. The moist softness of the spiritual fruit enables us to blossom fruitfully on the inside to build bridges to one another by persevering in our efforts to connect with others, to show patience for the other person to show a crack that allows the bonding fruit to bloom, and self-control when interacting with stubborn people who are calloused to positive social interactions. We all know the consequences when iron and steel bends and bows when it's necessary to have erect and stable structures. A bent and bowed bridge would be too lopsided to allow safe passage from one side to the other. Trying to build a social infrastructure on personalities equal to the iron emotions of a robot would be worst then wood, clay, brick, and mortar. Personalities of iron and steel would have walls so tight that not an ounce of good fruit would materialize from one person to the next. That society would seek to destroy all the interactions that form through the softness of the fruit of the spirit. The society would be full of despair, evilness, and pessimism instead of the qualities that builds bridges to stable relations, such as faith, joy, and goodness.About all that would be left to build bridges with would be silver and gold, but with the hard callousness in the community that would be targeted to be stolen away. With those types of bridges, people's understanding would be limited to monetary and materialistic gain and know nothing of relating to one another with divine qualities. Those divine qualities include fruitfulness in relationships, tranquility, respect for life, reverence for the inner deity, and positive energy. Setting a man to watch over all the hard ways happening between one another would be too burdensome as the flesh would grow weary in trying to maintain a safe and secure environment. However, through the soft moistness of the spiritual fruit we can build enduring bridges through meekness, gentleness, and peace.