Pretty Bubbles in the Air

October 31, 2009 · Posted in Blog, Devotional, Faith, Life Experience · Comment

There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.
Prov. 13:7 (NKJV)

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Tim. 6:6 (NKJV)

Yesterday, an old tune my Dad used to sing came to mind. It is a lovely tune, one I thoroughly enjoyed hearing him sing when I was a small boy. But then one day I really heard the words for the first time…and they were fraught with discouragement and disillusion. So, I wondered if Dad just liked the tune or if he somehow felt the impact of the lyrics.

The song goes like this…

I’m forever blowing bubbles
Pretty bubbles in the air
They fly so high, they reach the sky
Just like my dreams, they fade and die
Fortune’s always hiding,
I look everywhere
I’m forever blowing bubbles
Pretty bubbles in the air

Honestly, most of us have felt that way at one time or another, like all our efforts, schemes, and dreams were so many pretty bubbles, enjoyed for a few minutes, ascending higher and higher, only to burst into nothingness.

Solomon surely went through a period of such despondency. Having searched out all that the world had to offer and finding that it left him cold and empty inside, he penned observations that became the most downbeat book in the Bible…Ecclesiastes. The catch phrase and theme of the whole book is, “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.” Solomon compared chasing riches and pleasure and all that the world can offer to chasing the wind. You cannot catch it…and even if you do, what have you got?

But Solomon was living life, as he put it, “under the sun.”

God intends for you and me to live on a higher plain. He urges us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, trusting Him that all these other things will be ours as well. Paul found that gain without godliness was fleeting and troublesome, but godliness coupled with contentment was real wealth.

I don’t want to burst any bubbles today, but acquisitions, accolades and accomplishments don’t last. Nor do they bring real satisfaction.

Jesus does.

A Prayer for Today: “Lord Jesus, I do not wish to spend my time here on earth chasing pretty bubbles. Help me, Lord, to live my life on a higher plain. Help me to order my priorities so that the things that thrill me are the things of eternal value. And may I be content with such as I have, trusting You to meet my needs and take me still to higher ground! Amen.”

Tags: Devotional, Jesus Christ, journey, Life

Pieces of Me

October 27, 2009 · Posted in (Gene)ric Ramblings, Blog, Family, In(Gene)ious Insights, Life Experience, nostalgia · 4 Comments

The Journey Continues

Tossing about in the bed last night, chasing the elusive slumber I so desperately sought, my mind wandered back to the places I have been and people I have seen the past couple of weeks.

Weekend before last, Donya and I flew to Texarkana, Arkansas to spend a couple of days. There is only one reason on earth we would waste a plane ride on Texarkana (or Arkansas, for that matter).

Her name is Holly.

We hadn’t seen her in awhile and we missed her terribly.

The trip was short, but it was sweet. For a city girl with a Master’s degree and a personality as big as the state the Texas half of Texarkana occupies, the slow-paced, never-changing east Texas landscape is as unlikely a place for her to land as one can imagine.

But God works in mysterious ways…and sends His kids on unexpected adventures. So, there she is.

For now.

And there I am, too. A piece of me resides in that east Texas border town.

Then, this weekend past, it was off to Colorado Springs for the wife and me. Our Army Sergeant son-in-law is stationed there now. More importantly, our oldest daughter and only grandson are stationed there with him.

We knew how badly we missed them, and we knew how much. The four days spent in the Rockies reminded us why we missed them so much. How good it felt to hear our daughter’s unmistakable machine gun laughter! How incredibly incredible it was to hear that boy say “DooDah” and “Mimi” with genuine love and affection.

The beauty of the Garden of the Gods, the majesty of Pike’s Peak, the serenity and elegance of the Air Force Academy base where they live paled in comparison to the laughter of one little boy.

Ashley and Ty dropped us off at the airport. We smothered the grandboy in kisses and tormented him with one last barrage of tickles. He gripped his Mimi’s arm and begged her not to go. Then he cried as they drove away. We wiped a couple of tears ourselves, gathered the bags and boarded the plane for home.

Pieces of me were left behind, in that snow-blanketed pass, high in the Rocky Mountains.

Two hours later, the plane touched down at DFW International Airport. Standing in the drizzle, beneath the gray skies of home, I watched a silver Dodge pickup pull to the curb. Behind the wheel, another piece of me – the one we named Lacey Nicole – welcomed us home.

I am learning as I journey that so much of life is simply about change and adjusting to it and accepting it and learning how to live with it. Resisting it is natural, but mostly futile. Denying it is silly. Ignoring it is unhealthy. Embracing it is difficult. I have taken each of these approaches…sometimes in a single day.

If I could, I would find a comfortable place and stop. I would drive down a stake and take my stand, refusing to put another foot forward. The way is sometimes hard. The path has twists and turns I don’t always see coming. It would be so much easier just to freeze yourself in that one place, that one moment when you were the happiest, when all the pieces of your world fit neatly into place. They weren’t scattered by the winds of change. Just stay there, in that moment…forever.

But life is a journey, and journey we must.

So, to this moment I have come. The places I have gone and the people I have loved are precious little vials containing pieces of me. But I cannot stay.

The journey continues…

Tags: Change, experience, Family, journey, Life

Sweet Escape

October 18, 2009 · Posted in (Gene)ric Ramblings, Blog, Devotional, Life Experience · Comment

(Reprinted from 2003)

Do you remember the Chevrolet Tahoe commercials from a few years ago, the ones featuring a poem read by James Garner? The first time I heard the poem, I was smitten. I had to find out who wrote it, where it came from. I kind of thought it might be a Dr. Seuss offering I had missed along the way. It just smacked of his unusual poetic style. Turns out it is ad copy written by the heretofore unknown Patrick O’Leary. I wonder if he even knew the depths he had mined with such powerful simplicity.

The poem, entitled “Nobody Knows It But Me,” goes like this:

There’s a place that I travel,

When I want to roam
And nobody knows it but me.

The roads don’t go there,
And the signs stay home
And nobody knows it but me.

It’s far, far away and way, way afar,
It’s over the moon and the sea,
And wherever you are going,
That’s wherever you are
And nobody knows it but me.

I am sure these words stir about as many feelings in those who read them as there are life experiences. They carry in them a haunting sense of escapism.

Most people, I think, in the recesses of the mind, have some place to which they escape. It may be through something as purposeful as meditation or as incidental as day-dreaming. Since my earliest days, I have enjoyed a vivid imagination. I have lived parallel lives: the one in the “real” world of everyday experiences and the one in the world I have contrived. In that other world, the contrived world, I have been a lonesome cowboy on a dusty cattle drive, a dashing prince rescuing some distressed damsel, a heroic athlete winning it all, a bold general preserving a way of life, even a great evangelist, preaching to tens of thousands of hungry souls.

And until now, almost nobody knew it but me.

But the chord these words strike in my heart today is echoed in one of my favorite Psalms:

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. -Psalm 91:1

I read about that place where the roads don’t go and the signs stay home, that place that is out there beyond the everyday experiences of mundane life, and I think of that holy escape into the presence of God – an escape I have taken almost daily for over thirty years. It is a haven, a refuge.

Sometimes I have been driven there by maddening pain. A few times by devastating loss. Confusion has pushed me there. So has disappointment. But then there are those times when it is unmitigated, unspeakable joy that drives me to the secret place of the Most High. There are those simple moments of praise. Those peaceful moments of grace. Those times when my heart just wants to sing.

I have been there, alone with Him, at the sun’s rising, when the world is glistening in the morning dew and awakening to another day of grace . I have been there at sunset, the sky ablaze with His glory. I have stolen peaceful moments from hectic days. I have been there during a long drive across a vast Arizona desert, and on a leisurely walk around a small east Texas pond. I have lain in grassy meadows, squinting against the summer sun, and gone there. I have stood alone in a graveyard, a winter wind biting at my face, and drifted into the warmth of His presence.

I have even been there tonight, from this very chair, in this very office.

This great hymn captures the essence of what I am feebly trying to express here:

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!

That calls me from a world of care,

And bids me at my Father’s throne

Make all my wants and wishes known.

In seasons of distress and grief,

My soul has often found relief

And oft escaped the tempter’s snare

By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

Do you have such an escape? I hope you do.

A Prayer for Today: “Father, thank You for being my holy Haven, my escape, my Comforter, my Roadmap, my Guide, my constant Companion. How I relish the time spent in holy communion with You! I need it, I want it, I promise not to forsake it. Amen.”

Tags: Devotional, escape, prayer