Complicated? Crosscheck It!

Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. 

Psalm 119:105

It was pretty late in the day. It was a workday, I had just done my around the world trip of picking up the kids from school. A part of the day I dreaded because of the traffic and the rush of getting from one school to the next before the car line gate closed. We were finally home, homework was mostly done or at least in progress depending on the child. I was sitting at the kitchen table taking a breath. Garnet, my six-year-old, walked up and asked, “Mommy, can I make bubbles?” My heart sank, that was the last thing I needed right at that moment. So I blurted out, “No, it’s too messy”. She looked at me with her big brown eyes, paused, and then responded, “Mommy, it’s water, soap, and a bowl. It’s not that complicated”, and she walked away. I couldn’t help but crack up. She was right. We still didn’t make bubbles though. Judge me if you want.

As the days passed this encounter kept coming back to my mind. That’s one of the ways I know the Lord is talking to me. As I spoke to Him and asked Him what He was showing me this hit me.

Sometimes we want a particular result but we aren’t using the right ingredients to get the desired effect. You can put a bar of soap in some water and stir it up, as you can imagine this solution will not produce the kind of bubbles Garnet was after. You can put powdered dishwasher soap into a bowl of water and stir and also not get the desired bubbles. But if you put the right kind of dish soap with the right amount of water and the right instrument to hold in your hand to dip in the bubble solution, then with the right flow of breath you’ll get the most amazing bubbles.

That’s how it is as we continue in our relationship with the Lord. We are walking in The Way. While we are on the way there will be all kinds of things the world tells us to put in the way. We will think that we are blocked from moving forward, we will think we have a massive mountain to overcome, we will think we are stuck, we will think….. But that’s the issue, isn’t it? What we think. The living Word and the written Word are what we are to use to build our lives. (Matt 7:24) These are the ingredients that are supposed to make us who we really are. It’s what sets us apart from the world we live in. We are to be the living Word, since the living Word resides inside of us. Is it making its way out of us? What IS in us that’s making its way out of us?

The bubble solution can make incredible bubbles, but if we don’t blow and use the breath He’s given us, nothing will come of the solution.

His Word is sure, His Word is final, His Word never changes, it never returns void. So what are we doing to walk with the power and authority He’s given? Nothing is surer than the Word of God. He has established He is on our side and He is for us. We need to activate our faith by speaking the truth of who He is and what He says. Do we believe it? We aren’t reminding God of what He said, we are reminding ourselves. Speaking the Word doesn’t change Him. It changes us, it transforms us, it washes over us. Faith comes by hearing, so speak so you can hear and speak so others can hear!

When that breath comes out of your mouth and uses the ingredients He gave us, you blow the most beautiful bubbles. Can bubbles be messy? Yes. They can drip all over, they can pop and splash in your eye and it can burn. But it’s all worth It!

There’s a beauty that’s undeniable with bubbles. They stop adults and children in their tracks. It’s actually quite funny. Most of the time they stop until they figure out where the bubbles are coming from. They’re so full of beauty, full of color, blowing all around, floating and dancing in the wind. It’s worth the mess!!! Get past the mess! Take the time to take in the right ingredients and crosscheck what shouldn’t be in there. Put those ingredients into the bowl, which is your soul, your thoughts, your emotions, etc. Soak in it, then blow! Wait and see what God does! You’ll be blown away!

It’s not that complicated.

p.s. When I got home today my husband had brought home bubbles for her. Today, the day I'm posting this. I wrote this three years ago. I went outside and there she was blowing them, spinning to make them, amazed by them, just having fun being nine. Coincidence? No way.

God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.