The child of three had her back to her aunt and didn't acknowledge her aunt at all. Her sturdy short legs held her squat-over in her favorite summer afternoon play area in the front yard, under the big elm tree by the huge lilac bush inside the front gate.
"Didn't you hear me," Aunt Lydie asked?
Slowly the child rose. As she turned, Aunt Lydie could see she carried, held out in both chubby hands, some small treasure she wanted to share. She had a smile at the corners of her mouth but never took her eyes off her prize as she slowly and purposely walked toward the house, up the walk, up the front steps.
"Look," she whispered.
On a small plank of tree bark, side-by-side, were the five discarded dry shells from cicadas, the flying bugs whose summer sound echoed everywhere in the Indiana countryside.
Aunt Lydie looked at this childish treasure and then into her niece's face.
"What have you got here," she asked?
With wide eyed wonder, as only a child could, she answered, "Bug clothes!"
I am the niece, if you haven't figured that out yet.
Since that time, sixty plus years ago now, in our family, empty cicada shells are always referred to as "bug clothes."
Aunt Lydie shared that story every summer of her life and I have passed this tradition onto my children and grandchildren. As we walk around the yard, looking at the summer flowers, they always bring me any "bug clothes" they find, handing them to me as if I treasure them more today than I did when I was three. Which I do, because my beautiful grandchildren give them to me and my beloved Aunt Lydie is alive in my heart.
All that to share something from my morning quiet time. I am currently reading a Beth Moore book from her Personal Reflection Series, a study on John, The Beloved Disciple." Today's lesson from John 21:1-14 is set after Jesus resurrection, when a group of disciples return from a night of fishing. John recognizes Jesus on the shore waiting for them and "when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer garment around him and plunged into the sea (v7b)." Or, as Beth puts it, "he was willing to dog paddle in ice water to get to Jesus this time." I just love Beth, don't you?
Beth's lesson is titled, "Diving in the Deep End." Or, "how far will you take your 'spiritual thing' when worshipping the Lord?"
Steven Curtis Chapman has a song I love called "Dive." Now that song gets this old boomer back in her boom! I may have to stop here and listen to that! The chorus says, "I'm diving in, I'm going deep in over my head..." Sorry, I'm just slightly A.D.D.
This lesson really speaks to me. As I renewed my walk with the Lord; after a divorce, ten year rebellion, fight with cancer, remarriage and my kids finding the Lord (basically by themselves); my traditional religion did not work anymore. It no longer fit. In our search for a new place to worship, we found a non-traditional, non-denominational church that taught us just what Beth's lesson pointed out..."Have you jumped out of the boat of what is comfortable and acceptable and decided you want Jesus even if you have to make a fool of yourself to get to Him?"
In my journal I wrote..."Yes, Lord, that is it!"
The church of my youth was restraining, but once we experienced the freedom of unrestricted worship we came alive in Jesus. Just as the scales came off Paul's eyes, so to the scales of a dying tradition came off our eyes, the tradition that became as the Pharisee's laws. We shed our old skin but we were tender and in danger and You brought us to Your church where we were safe to grow and mature. Bug clothes!
How special, Lord! Thank you, Lord, for new eyes. Thank you!
I was, and am, like the cicada. The shell I was in no longer fit and I had to shed my shell to grow, again and now again. Lord, thank you for this vision and answer to prayer today. You brought together Beth's teaching from Your word and this childhood story from my past to form the truth you have for me today. Thank you, Lord, that time and space are simple ingredients in your hands to use in my life. Thank you too that there is no expiration date on any of your ingredients!
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