Dottie had a Mary Poppins purse with endless bubblegum
I'd skip up every Sunday morning with a smile quickly returned
soft-spotted gentle hand reaching into bottomless white leather
I'd steal a glance at her shining pearls as rare as she was
and then her open, humble palm extended like a present
magic cubes of sugar wrapped with paper and the love of Jesus
Don would hold my cheek and do his Donald Duck voice
giggling out the sugar high of touch and humor and joy
and I always knew they loved me
that church was not a steeple, a wooden cross up front,
not a building, cold and brick
but the warmth of people who loved Jesus and loved me
the gentle hands of Don and Dottie McCall
and their endless generosity of Bubblicious
a gift to our necktie and high-heeled parents as well
funneling all that impish energy that made us want to dance in the aisle
concentrated in our jaws where our taste buds danced with delight
and our shoes swayed beneath the pews like giddy pendulums
or upside down flowers laughing in an Easter breeze
where He came and died to turn our world upside down
every Sunday I'd see Him in their eyes, their smiles,
Don's duck voice and that purse of mystery
all pointing me to generosity, to joy, to Jesus
May the purse of my heart never run out of Bubble Gum.
Dottie's knowing smile went up to be with Jesus today
I hear His voice floating down, urging Don to keep smiling
and praying in his duck voice
until they can all be together again.
I bet Jesus blows the best bubbles.
"Joy is a flame that glimmers only in the palm of the open and humble hand. In an open and humble palm ,released and ready to receive, light dances, flickers happy." Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
"Listen carefully to what I am saying—and be wary of the shrewd advice that tells you how to get ahead in the world on your own. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. " Mark 4:24
"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."
- James M. Barrie
Don would hold my cheek and do his Donald Duck voice
giggling out the sugar high of touch and humor and joy
and I always knew they loved me
that church was not a steeple, a wooden cross up front,
not a building, cold and brick
but the warmth of people who loved Jesus and loved me
the gentle hands of Don and Dottie McCall
and their endless generosity of Bubblicious
a gift to our necktie and high-heeled parents as well
funneling all that impish energy that made us want to dance in the aisle
concentrated in our jaws where our taste buds danced with delight
and our shoes swayed beneath the pews like giddy pendulums
or upside down flowers laughing in an Easter breeze
where He came and died to turn our world upside down
every Sunday I'd see Him in their eyes, their smiles,
Don's duck voice and that purse of mystery
all pointing me to generosity, to joy, to Jesus
May the purse of my heart never run out of Bubble Gum.
Dottie's knowing smile went up to be with Jesus today
I hear His voice floating down, urging Don to keep smiling
and praying in his duck voice
until they can all be together again.
I bet Jesus blows the best bubbles.
"Joy is a flame that glimmers only in the palm of the open and humble hand. In an open and humble palm ,released and ready to receive, light dances, flickers happy." Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
"Listen carefully to what I am saying—and be wary of the shrewd advice that tells you how to get ahead in the world on your own. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. " Mark 4:24
"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."
- James M. Barrie
