Bubbles

Bubbles

I don't much care for the use of the term, "God sightings."  The way that I am most familiar with its use is at summer camp, mission trips, retreats, and Bible studies.  We sit around the campfire, sing Kumbaya and go around the circle announcing the day's God sightings.  It is as if we are on an Easter egg hunt and the one who finds the most sightings wins.  If we haven't witnessed at least a minor miracle, we get no points.  My contention is that God sightings are as numerous as the stars.  I looked into the mirror this morning and saw reflected a living, believing being.  I received a smile and a nod of greeting from a complete stranger.  I heard birds sing and saw new buds sprouting on trees.  I want to shout, "Even in Syria and Haiti, birds sing and trees blossom.  God is alive there too!  Do you want a God sighting?  Just open your eyes and ears."  I much prefer talking about bubbles and I'll tell you why…

Have you ever watched a child, playing with a bottle of soap liquid and a wand, making bubbles in the wind?  It is a sight sure to make even a curmudgeon smile.  Even the most serious of us will try to puff one of the bubbles a bit further along on its short-lived journey or will try to get one to land, un-burst, on the palm of a hand.  It just seems that most times, bubbles are fun; the sound of bubbles in a fish tank, the nose-tingly feeling of bubbles from a glass of celebratory champagne, the bubbles (and satisfying burp) from a cold Coke on a hot day.  You can see where I'm going with this.  Bubbles are, for the most part, happy things and that's why I choose to call this blog entry "Bubbles" rather than "God Sightings."

Almost a year ago, I closed out a blog that I began, on the Navajo Reservation in 2009, because I found that I was using it to vent anger and frustration more than anything else.  I have promised myself not to do that in this blog.  I'm getting a bit old to keep stepping on and off of that soapbox anyway.  I thought that I was done with blogging for good, but I've spotted several bubbles that have put me into a much better and sharable (is that really a word?) mind set.  The world keeps turning.  There is so much evil being done that I sometimes wonder why the world doesn't quit its rotations in plain old disgust.  Then I realize that there is still so much love and joy.

A friend and person of importance in my life, one of my pastors, Bev Coppley, delivered the sermon at church a few Sundays ago.  As she began, I thought she was preaching FOR me.  I found myself sitting, relaxed and complacent, shouting (well, silently shouting) a few "amen"s and a few "you tell 'em sister"s.  It sounded like we agreed that all bigots, all dog haters, all tailgate drivers, and all Carolina fans, were going straight to hell.  You tell 'em sister!  Oops!  All at once I realized that she was preaching TO me.  She said, "Ross, you old hypocrite, it's God's job to judge and yours to love.  Take off the black robe, lay down the gavel, roll up your sleeves, and get to work for God."  What she really said, in her gentle and yet compelling way, was, "In life, you cannot do it all nor can you do nothing at all.  It is our responsibility to just do the next right thing."  Looking at a reflection in a bubble makes the object appear to be upside down.  What Bev did for me that Sunday was to hold up a giant bubble.  She told me, this is the way God sees you and you should see yourself, not as an avenger, both unwanted and unneeded, but as a lover of His children.

Another thing that I'll share with you, that created a "whoa, fool, check your attitude" moment for me, was spending a couple hours visiting with an old high school classmate, Judy.  Two types of persons still call me "Rusty", old classmates and those who knew me growing up in my church.  She still calls me Rusty and I love to hear it.  She has suffered more physical pain and medical problems over the past couple of years than I could only hope to be able to cope with.  This lady (and I mean "lady" in every good sense of the word) whom I've know since grade school, blew a bubble in my direction that I am still trying to catch on the palm of my hand,  She said to me, "I'm still young (same age as me which makes me feel good) and I'm praying for God to show me how I can be useful."  She probably didn't see it, but she was already being useful.  At any rate, she sure pulled old woe-is-me Ross up short.  I think that I'll join her in her prayer.

I will continue to pray that I can be useful by doing the next right thing and I will continue to enjoy the blessings of bubbles.