a keen appreciation for bubbles

I missed blogging over the weekend, but I've been holed up in my hidey-hole slugging away at the Biblical commentary I'm editing: 900 pages is a lot to get through in a couple of weeks. I feel as if I'm almost qualified to step into the pulpit and begin my ministerial career. I have learned so much on this job, it almost feels like God is speaking to me through the pages. It's not a preachy kind of book, but one that digs in behind the scenes on several Biblical stories to give the inside scoop on what the context was, or to pick out the smallest, most seemingly picayune details of the translation to get to some scrap of previously overlooked nuance which ends up turning the whole passage from black and white into super-saturated color, meaning-wise. Yes, I tend to think in photographs.

I often need a concrete picture in order to truly understand something. It's weird. But this picture from my Paris trip perfectly illustrates my editing job. Sometimes, God floats something beautiful and gossamer into your life. It's not that you deserve the thing, but God sits back and says: I choose you for this wonderful experience. If you are paying attention at all when that happens, you stop to truly look and you breathe very slowly and concentrate for every second while the magic, with its play of light and pocket of rarefied air, floats past. I feel like God is watching and He truly appreciates our reverence and gratitude for such gifts. Also, I know He has a good memory. And lots more bubbles where this one came from. So, just for the record Lord, I'm a keen appreciator of bubbles, and quite susceptible to awe and bedazzlement over Your fingerprints.

Also, with all of this sitting in front of the computer, I am having to get up and stretch often, which usually involves either a quick spurt of dancing like a maniac around the living room or a stint of gazing into the refrigerator. Hey, the fridge is a nice little walk from my desk, so it's exercise. And I have to keep my strength up with plenty of cheese, ice cream, pretzels, grapes, and bell peppers. I also have to take periodic breaks to look at pictures. Don't ask me why. Photos entertain me. Also, I may be a tad ADD and I don't say that flippantly. Anyhow, this shot of pastries from the shop two doors down from the Paris apartment I stayed in had me mesmerized for quite a while. I want that raspberry tart and I want it now.