I don’t know a single child that doesn’t love bubbles. There is something mesmerizing about the pocket of air surrounded by a thin film of watery/soapy solution. The way bubbles are created is fascinating. The way they move is inviting. And the way they reflect light to make a rainbow is magical. Every kid likes bubbles.
Thanks to the invention of sweet gadgets, you no longer have to go blue in the face making bubbles. These gadgets come in many different sizes, styles, and colors but are all bubble makers. Whether you pull a trigger like a gun or turn a switch on a machine, you get bubbles. Lots and lots of bubbles.

If you’ve ever watched a kid with bubbles, you’ll notice how fixed the kid becomes with a certain bubble. With 10 bubbles floating around, the kid zooms in on a bubble, losing sight of everything else. Wherever the bubble floats, the kid is steps behind, arms stretched out to grasp the bubble. The mile-wide smile and the shrieks of elation…the joy of the bubble.

But then, the bubble pops.

And the elation turns to devastation. The lip quivers, the head hangs, and the tears fall.

As the adult sitting in the lawn chair with the bubble maker, you think to yourself, “Really? How could that child get so enraptured by that bubble? How can the child not see that if he/she would just turn around, there’s more bubbles? Yes, that bubble is gone. But return over here, because something else will be available to you. You can’t have a bubble if you don’t return to the bubble maker.”

Then the child asks the famous three-letter question, “Why? Why this bubble? Why did this bubble have to pop?” You, the bubble maker want to answer, except answering why may not actually help the child. Bubbles are created. And bubbles pop. It’s the nature of bubbles…

So, I’m not really talking about the pocket of air trapped in a film of a watery/soapy solution.

We have bubbles in our lives. Beautiful, fascinating, inviting, magical bubbles. These bubbles come from the Bubble Maker and are meant to be enjoyed. They are to be appreciated. They should make us smile and shriek with glee. Bubbles are the things we become transfixed with…but eventually pop. The perfect job, children’s good behavior, physical beauty, 20/20 vision, love of a spouse, creative music, a car, an education, success of a business, health, loyalty of a friend…Eventually, each of these bubbles pop.

And when they do, it’s sad. The bigger the bubble, the longer it lasts, the sadder it is. Yes, it’s sad when a bubble pops. But it doesn’t have to be sad all of the time, not forever.

We are always being invited to return to the Bubble Maker…to the source of the bubbles, the source of our joy. To fix our eyes over and over again on the Giver of these good things. Because He keeps making more bubbles. We find an abundance of bubbles at the feet of the Bubble Maker. At the popping of one bubble, He is making something else available. We never forget the old bubbles that popped, or the sadness we experienced then, but we focus on something else. We focus on the Bubble Maker, because He doesn’t float away or pop.

So turn back to the Bubble Maker…because He’s not done.

*thanks Shane Hipps for teaching me about bubbles*