Sometimes I wonder about what you’re supposed to do with the little pieces of chips at the bottom of the chip bag. You can’t dip them in salsa, and you can’t melt cheese on them. Other times, I think about penguins. So creatively designed – and that waddle!
And still other times, I wonder about Little Jack Horner. You know, little Jack, who sat in a corner.
“Little Jack Horner sat in the corner,
Eating his Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum,
And said, ‘What a good boy am I!’”
Oh my. So many things to wonder about. Why was he sitting in the corner? Eating his pie with his thumb? Really? And was he really a good boy?
I imagine the center character of this nursery rhyme as a young boy, maybe 5 or 6 years old, wearing those cute little boy shorts with suspenders, sitting on a short, 3-legged stool in the corner, all by himself, balancing a piece of sweet pastry on his lap. If there’s a Christmas party happening around him, he is uninterested. He is focused on the dessert in front of him.
And I wonder …
Hmmm … Have I had moments like that? Moments where I’m focused on what I want, focused on only what’s in front of me? Oblivious to anything else around me? Missing so much of what life offers?
Ooftah. Yes, I think I have.
It’s easy to get caught up in our own stuff, isn’t it? Rather than observing the mini-celebrations of life moments, engaging in interesting conversations, or noticing discoveries that startle us, delight us, or brighten our day, we see only what we want to see that’s right under our noses. See only those preoccupations in our immediate vision that keep us mindful of our own needs.
Oh, we miss out on so much then, don’t we?
The great poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, describes our potential for short-sightedness so perfectly:
“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
She’s taking us back to one of the great faith leaders in the Old Testament, Moses.
An angel appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush. (Can you even? I mean, really.) Moses was out in the desert just doing his regular job – tending sheep. But when he saw a burning bush which never burned up, he walked over to it. He noticed. He paid attention. And he took off his sandals, knowing he was now walking on holy ground. Wow.
This story gets me every time. You too?
I want to notice like that. I want to see, and then be willing to turn my attention from my everyday routine and the hum-drums of the usual to see the new, the miraculous, the interruptions.
I don’t want to sit in the corner by myself and eat a piece of pie with my thumb. Wouldn’t you agree that seeing holy moments and experiencing divine interruptions seems more life-affirming and faith-encouraging than sitting around plucking blackberries? And although there’s nothing wrong with blackberries, sometimes the good things take our attention away from the sacred.
If I want to see … I must start with simply paying attention.
Two of my favorite teachers, whose words always challenge me to dig deeper into my faith journey, write this:
Frederick Buechner: “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”
“Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation”
Eugene Peterson: “To eyes that see, every bush is a burning bush.” *
(I love this!)
How about if we stop eating pie by ourselves, stop plucking blackberries, and instead, watch for the sacred. Engage in moments. See the burning bushes and respond to them. Hear God’s voice in our daily activities.
Life is filled with wonder and miracles.
Let’s see them.
God is speaking to us.
Let’s stop and listen to Him.
* I’m not able to find the source of Peterson’s quote, but I’m currently reading his book, “Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best” and it is life changing. Highly recommend it.
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