You thrill me, Lord,
with all you have done for me!
I sing for you because of what you have
done.
Psalm 92:4
Our son loved bubbles as a toddler and well into childhood. They still capture his attention in his current double-digit years. For several summers, his biggest occupation involved bubbles and an assortment of wands, large and small, for making the captivating but fragile orbs. In the rare minutes he wasn't running through the yard waving bubble wands and filling the wet, hot air with wavering clouds of rainbow-laced bubbles, we could find him on the driveway, racing for all he was worth on his Big Wheel.
During one particularly hot, humid summer, we had no break from the heavy air. Sitting on our front steps to watch our small boy catapult himself across the grass, pouring bubbles from wands raised on high, I could hardly bear the uncomfortable humidity, the heaviness of the air and the intense heat of the sun pushing through to torture me. Breaking a sweat without doing anything (aka humidity) sits in the top three of my least favorite things.
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| Psalm 92:4 |
Glug, glug, glug into the bubble pan, and off he ran, bicycle helmet snugly strapped to his head and holding his wands aloft, chin pointed upward as he watched the bubbles in their full glory, over and over again.
The interesting thing about our boy and his chosen entertainment: he never made a sound or changed his earnest expression. He felt nothing but joy in his work. His heart was in it. He wanted to keep going, full-force and entirely given toward his activity. He felt purpose in his legs pumping, his arms raised, his face turned to watch the bubbles flow from his wands, and then to do it all over again.
The millions of bubbles our son generated that summer surely made God smile. After all, we must be as little children -- pure, innocent, and I think easy to please as a child with a bubble wand on a summer day. And those days, as unbearably hot as I remember them, produced a joy I will never forget. I remember the heat, but I see the boy not noticing or caring about anything but his bubble production. He wanted to fill his small portion of the world with beauty and enjoyed the doing as much as the seeing.
My heart sings for joy each time I remember that running boy with cascades of bubbles forming in his wake. I'm the kind of mom who smiles so much I laugh, and I can't see a bottle of bubbles on a store shelf or on a family's porch steps without thinking of those summer days and smiling at the memories. And laughing. My heart sings for joy every time.
Our son is an example of God's work. The ground beneath his feet, the sky surrounding him, the birds singing in the trees He created -- all perfect examples of His work. Every little thing I see ... God's work.
It takes remembering to do the shouting, to do the singing to God.
Remembering that all good things come from God: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,who does not change like shifting shadows. ~James 1:17.
Remembering that our time on this earth lasts only a short while: Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist (or bubbles!) that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ~James 4:14.
Remembering that we have purpose here on His earth: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ~Romans 8:28
Those are God's works for all of us. Unbounded, exuberant, pure and endlessly repeating.
Remember them and give thanks. Let your heart sing and shout for joy!
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