"God Is Just Showing Off"

I cannot remember when or where I first heard the phrase "God is just showing off", but I am quite sure that I instantly loved it.

Right now I am at the beach with three dear friends.  We choose to spend our mornings alone; each of us waking, exercising, having a devotion, and eating breakfast at her own leisurely pace.  This morning, I woke up early, did some yoga and went for a walk on the beach.  My "Morning Walk" playlist was streaming through my ears, the ocean was like a glass-top table, and the sun was beaming down.  The toughest decisions I had to make were (1) shoes or no shoes and (2) in which direction to walk.  Ahhh, vacation!

Just as my toes hit the sand I spotted the cutest little crab scurrying along the water's edge.  Steps later I passed a crane.  He looked old and weathered, strutting down the beach, and stopping every few feet to gaze at the horizon.  Next up, a heron, soaring just above the water and at an arm's length away.  Then a school of fifteen to twenty sting ray.  The grand finale literally took my breath away, a school of dolphin frolicking in the water.  Some were jumping up in the air, others were flipping on their backs, and more were racing each other.  God was just showing off!

"And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning —the fifth day."

My eyes filled with tears.  I spent my college years lonely and afraid, my twenties were full of grief and loss, and the first half of my thirties have been marked by the pain of infertility coupled with the deep joy of adoption.  And, yet, as much as I can walk down the beach and know with certainty that all that I see is His beautiful creation, I can look at the suffering over the last fifteen years and know with that same certainty that I am His beautiful creation as well. 

"Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

 And with my life, just as with the lives of these beautiful creatures, God is just showing off!

 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."

Genesis 1: 20-23, 26-27, 31 

Respect the Polygon

In Alabama, the name James Spann can gladden and terrify you in a single moment.  James is our beloved meteorologist with the task of warning Alabamians when the 1 snow storm and the 320,198,573th tornado is coming through the state.  James starts off with a handsome look: suspenders, tie, collared shirt, all neatly tucked in.  

 

As the hours of weather reporting progress he begins to look more and more disheveled.  By the end of the "event" he has lost his voice, his tie has blown away with the air mass he was just reported on, and his shirt is unbuttoned and spilling out of his pants; but he has saved countless souls.  

 

To lighten the mood I like to text my sister-in-law about whether or not James' suspenders do tricks and considering a drinking game where each time James tell us to "Respect the Polygon" everybody takes a shot (since I don't like liquor I have actually never played the game).

As I am typing this post, James is sending out severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings and watches.  We have already had hail and the tornadoes will be possible for several more hours.  My husband is out of town and I have two dogs and a toddler that I am responsible for keeping safe.  All of this could be quite unsettling to a girl who needs Zoloft to get her through a normal day.  

So, you can imagine my astonishment today when my first response to the threat of inclement weather was deep gratitude.  Gratitude for being known by the God who created the winds and rain.  And I remembered...

And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Matthew 8:27

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Matthew 10:29-30

Just to taunt the Enemy, I took a walk in the rain.  The toddler had a smile on his face the whole time.    

Liturgical Clock

I have been told by those that know me well that I have a loud inner "liturgical clock".  No doubt my Episcopalian and Roman Catholic roots are to blame.  I become rather giddy as seasons such as Advent, Epiphany, and Lent approach.  My puny brain cannot hold on to all the messages that God has revealed to His people in the Bible, so I like the idea of focusing on one at a time.  I enjoy knowing that I am not alone in my worship, but that many of the saints are pondering and celebrating the very same revelations that I am.

My husband does not share my affinity towards the seasons of the Church.  On Ash Wednesday he asked me, "How would you describe the season of Lent?"  I reminded him of how much fun I had planning our son's first birthday party.  

I had a blast choosing a red wagon theme, partnering with my oldest friend and sister-in-law, and purchasing a cake from the same bakery that made our wedding cake.

The anticipation is half the joy, in first birthday parties and in Lent.  Each year we celebrate the theme of clean hearts through repentance, we partner with those dearest to us, and we eat from the same Table that has fed Christians throughout the ages.  Oh gosh, I am getting all giddy again!

Leaping Since 1978

As long as I can remember, I have loved hearing about the Good News of Jesus Christ.  My mother once remarked, "The only time I remember you moving inside of me was when we were in church.  The organist would start playing and you would start kicking."  Since my youth, from the felt-board Sunday school lessons at St. Mary's-on-the-Highlands to the morning watches and cabin devotions at Camp Desoto, the Word of God has made me happy.  Yet I had a difficult time answering the question, "When did you become a Christian?".  And then I read this passage from Luke, Chapter 1:

Mary Visits Elizabeth

39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

God initiates a relationship with us.  We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).  It is one of the reasons my Christian tradition baptizes infants, because, in a sense, we will always have an infantile understanding of God's love for us.  The dimensions of God's love are "too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain" (Psalm 139:6).  Maybe my spiritual birth happened before my physical birth.   And perhaps, like John the Baptist, I too have been leaping for joy since I was in the womb!