A reminder of God's love and grace.
This morning, while basking in God’s glorious Palm Springs weather I believe I may have had a spiritual moment. But then again, when we least expect it, we see God’s majesty around us. The sad thing is that if we “stop and smell the roses” as our cliché friends like to say, we can see God’s majesty in everyday life. The birds that sing in the background are part of life’s soundtrack. Stop and listen once in a while.
Now, back to my story. While I was in the pool, I saw a moth-looking creature attempting to flap its wings in the water. The old me would’ve first of all freaked out…secondly would’ve done enough splashing to make it go to the opposite end of the pool as far away as possible from me to die a horrendous death, for as you know, moths are evil deadly bugs. The new me did something I think is extraordinary. Extraordinary? Well, yes, extraordinary for me at least. I started to have a conversation with it. He didn’t respond, but somehow I kept talking. It went something like this:
“Oh sweetie, what are you doing?” while I cupped it in my hands and gently placed it on the safe dry land surrounding us. Although as gently as I handled it, I somehow ended up landing him upside down. Now, I knew I had to flip him around because he kept trying on his own and just wasn’t succeeding. Again, if you knew the old me, you’d know I’d have left him to die, but I couldn’t do that. I used my fingernail to flip him over….yes it was gross, but I felt sorry for him. He turned around and started flapping away…drying himself off I assumed. But he was walking straight for the pool water! I thought to myself “Why would God give you such a small brain? Why do you want to go back into the pool?” I blew it away from me and it started to stumble towards dry land again.
Somehow, while I wasn’t looking, he’d jumped back into the water. So there I go again, to the rescue of Mothy. Again telling him, “What is wrong with you? It can’t be that bad!” That last comment made me laugh out loud while I attempted to shoo him away further this time. It was at that moment that I realized that that is probably the way God feels about us, His precious children. The many times He’s given us opportunity to get back on dry land, away from the depths of the ‘pools’ we suffer in. No matter how many times we give in and dive right back into these pools of depression and suffering and addiction, He’s right there to say, “Oh sweetheart, come on out of there.” At this realization I was overcome with peace. Mothy had started to walk away from the water.
I decided to go back to sun a bit prior to having to leave the resort but by 10AM the sun was so hot that I had to get back in the water and guess who was there, flapping his wings trying to get out of it; Mothy. This time around the conversation went something like this as I cupped him back safely to the side, “What are you going to do when I’m not here to save you huh? I’m leaving soon and can’t take you with me.” The thought of having an insect as a pet repulses me but I had a connection with Mothy. Again my thoughts turned to God and how He will be there with us no matter where we go. He will never, ever leave us even though we may sometimes feel He’s deservedly taking a break from us and our non-stop whining. By this time Mothy had lost one of his antennae and God only knew how much longer his little life would stretch. I had to surrender to the fact that I couldn’t keep saving him from drowning. It was at this time that I blew at him one more time, attempting to get him farther away from the water. This time however, he flew. He flew around a little, unfortunately towards water, but he gained altitude and all I kept saying was “Go baby go!” And, he went…higher and higher until he found the safety of a palm tree trunk. I knew he was going to be ok now.
I wonder if that’s how God feels like when He sees us going in the right direction. Instead of the “no, no child, not that way,” I wonder if He says, “go baby go?” I sure like to think so.
