Small Moves
“Small Moves, Ellie”
“Contact”, a film by Robert Zemeckis
Read about Tom and the Superball from a previous post
My Superball has gone the way it came, suddenly and with no warning. I have no idea where it is and no desire to look for it.
Tom has been coming to our church with his kids on Wednesday nights for our community meal. His two-year-old son Joshua went into my office a couple of weeks ago and spotted the Superball sitting in Tigger’s lap. He stretched both arms into the air and called for it.
“Ball!”
So while Tom and I talked about his old church, his divorce, and his search for employment, Joshua laughed and chased the Superball all around the sanctuary. I talked with Tom, but my eyes were on Joshua, and I remembered how I threw that same ball around the church in anger just a few weeks before.
Tom is doing great, I’m happy to say. The worst seems to be behind him. He has set his face like flint toward wholeness and is steadily about that good work. His kids seem fine, and he’s starting to laugh again.
He’s making small moves.
That very Wednesday night, the Superball disappeared. Joshua was playing with it, and then later he wasn’t playing with it. That’s all I know. Somewhere in the middle it went away. He’s too young to remember anything even if I wanted to ask him, and I don’t.
Its leaving was as mysterous as its arrival the day I found it under the communion table.
It might be somewhere in the church, hiding in a corner or behind a music stand. Or maybe another child found it and took it home. The Superball served a good purpose here and has moved on to other things, I think.
A man is hurt, almost unto death. His friend finds a ball and makes an interesting connection with him. The man comes to church with his friend, finds love in a dark time, and gets a little better while his son plays with that same ball. They all laugh one night and the ball is gone.
I don’t know what goes on, really. The world is such a big place and we are such small people. Who knows how everything fits together?
I want to say that this is how The Creator works in our lives. With small moves and a very light touch. With candy corn and swaddling clothes and little toys found under tables.
I want to say that we should keep our eyes open, you and I, and our hearts soft. Whether or not you want to call The Creator by any name, I know that good things often happen in small moves.
And small moves with a light touch is nice, don't you think?
I mean, that’s just a beautiful way for goodness to come into this world.
rlp
5:49:58 AM 
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