Dolphins

Sitting outside the Bluebird café, Ferring, early one morning I was looking dreamily out to sea and enjoying a piece of toast with bacon and coffee. Then I thought I heard a man say ‘Dolphins!’ Dolphins, I thought? In Ferring?! Several of us stood up and peered out to sea. Sure enough there was a pod of dolphins. With my eyesight I didn’t see much more than some black objects rising and falling but it was nevertheless a joyful surprise; made my day and I praised God for the privilege and the beauty of his creation. It was most unexpected and we all stopped what we were doing to take notice of them.

Life is full of surprises but sometimes shocks. Nice surprises or painful shocks both are, by very nature, unexpected. How do we react when confronted by them? Do we stop to notice what God might be saying in them or through them? Do we turn to him when we experience them?

In Exodus 3 we read that Moses noticed a burning bush and stopped to see what it was. As a result he had that incredible encounter with God. v 2 ‘Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought ‘I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up’. ……..When the Lord saw that he had gone to look, God called to him from within the bush, Moses, Moses!’ And Moses said ‘ Here I am’…….. Then God revealed who he was in v 6 ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’…..

Moses noticed and went over to look. If he hadn’t he might have missed that powerful encounter.

Nice surprises can turn us to God with thankfulness and worship. But even in our painful shocks we can remember that God is in them with us and lean on Him as we navigate them.Whatever we encounter or go through, let’s always stop to notice and be aware of our ever present God and listen to what he might be saying.

‘Earth’s crammed with heaven and every bush afire with God, but only he who sees, takes off his shoes; the rest sit round it and pick blackberries’. Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Julie Shimizu