Fireworks, Hairy Arms and the Character of God

After fireworks this past Wednesday night, I was walking with a friend’s five year old daughter.  As she held onto my arm she said, “You have hairy arms.  Why do you have so much hair on your arms?”  I’ll pause the story right here to say this is a comment I have actually heard a lot- especially from children…and perhaps a few junior high boys.  I do have a lot of hair- thick curly hair on my head is directly connected to the dark, thick hair on my arms. (Always did have sympathy for Esau.)  I didn’t think much of it, smiled and said yes that is how God made me.

What I did think about was Samuel’s response.  Right away he adamently said “No she doesn’t”.  And later when we were home he said “Mama why did Isabella say you have a lot of hair on your arm?”  To him it was if she was saying something obviously not true, she might have said the sky is green and he would have had the same reaction.  This morning as I was journaling, this conversation came to mind.  I was thinking, from Samuel’s perspective the hair on my arms ‘just is’.  He doesn’t have a comparison.  He knows what my arms look like and feel like.  He has spent many hours sitting on my lap, unconsiously holding on to them.  It is his standard, his norm.  It is a characteristic of me that he doesn’t think much about.  It is just how it always has been.

I began to reflect on characteristics of God that “just are” to me.  Truths about Him that have always been easy for me to accept.  These are the aspects of God that are my standards- the ones where I would say, what do you mean these arms are hairy? They have always been this way.  Those characteristics have come to be my norm because either they were consistent with how my parents were, or they were part of my story growing up or they are truths that I have experienced deeply in my journey of life.    For example, my parents both loved me so deeply and I always knew they were “for me”.  From that, believing God to be love and that He delights in me feels natural.  From times of trials and suffering, I’ve discovered the God of all comfort.  And in seasons of stepping out on a limb, the truth that God is trustworthy resonates in my soul.  It is from spending time resting in God’s arms that the shape and curvature of these traits are instinctual.

Then there are the characteristics of God that take me by surprise.  Moments when I say, this is not what I expected.  These arms are hairier than I was anticipating.  I need to get my head around this new reality.  It comes up when I read Scripture and recognize God’s holiness is not something I frequently let seep into my daily life.  It is a discipline for me to meditate on how great is our God.  Surprising characteristics are evident when a friend points out beauty I might not have ever observed, nor connected to God.  They help me to build an eye to know God as an artist.  And I hope that God begins to take my breath away with his creativity and that I will allow more creativity to flow.  Other moments are when a friend shares the way God has brought forth reconciliation.  A healing of relationships that was long hoped for, but never counted on happening.

How about for you? 

When are  you like Samuel and say ‘these arms aren’t hairy”- what are your familiar characteristics of God? 

 And when are you like Isabella- a touch of something that says “whoa, these arms are hairy”- the characteristics that you hear about but don’t yet hold deep in your soul?

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