I don’t want to create the impression that my wooden spoon should be venerated. I mean, I like it. It is pleasing aesthetically, and perhaps this is important for a focal object. Do I love it? Let’s explore that.

It is the object’s ability to offer symbolic opportunities that is its greatest feature. Clearly, I see its Trinitarian possibilities and I love that about it. Father, son and holy spirit bound together as one and drawing me in.

But the key for me is the way the object behaves in a process, a meditative process. I don’t love it in the way that I love the substance it discloses to me. I’m struggling for the right metaphor. I guess I love it in the way that some people love a car. The thing may have intrinsic value but what we appreciate is its ability to transport us. It is arriving at, being in those destinations that our love for the car is bound up. (I once had a neighbor who washed and polished his car several times a week and was for ever to be found with the hood up seemingly in the act of being swallowed, literally as well as metaphorically. His relationship to the car appeared fetishistic, but I am not qualified to make a judgement).

The object is not a substitute for being. It assists in being and becoming. So for me, the object is a vehicle on the road of meditation, an instrument on the way of discovery. It has a place in a larger thing that I love. It is in that sense that I love it.

My wooden spoon

My mother bought me a wooden spoon. It’s not the type of wooden spoon with which to measure and stir. Rather, it’s the kind of spoon that in Wales is hung on a wall!

Wales is a home of hand-carved, wooden lovespoons that are given as gifts on special occasions. Originally, in Wales and other parts of Europe where the tradition is equally long established, the lovespoon was a romantic gift. The carvings embody a variety of symbols with associated meanings. For example a keyhole says “my house is your house” while a heart would represent steadfast love. In Wales the Dragon is a national symbol, and as part of a lovespoon, a dragon represents protection, suggesting that interference might invoke a fiery response!

You can see my lovespoon in the header. You can see the bowl of the spoon and at the top of the spoon a cross. Generally, the cross symbolises faith. The handle connecting the bowl to the cross is of Celtic knot work. The latter symbolises everlasting love.

To me, this spoon has come to symbolise the object of faith. It hangs on an otherwise naked wall and provides the room’s main focus.

I see in it three parts. The bowl of the spoon represents an instrument of creation, a cosmic tool. The cross is a symbol for agency, the thing without which, nothing. The many strands of the Celtic knot join instrument and agent, eternally.

There are three parts, but there is only one spoon.