Sometimes you get more than you ask for. All I hoped for was a cool picture. Instead, I got a picture PLUS two things. One, a lesson of comfort. And, two, whatever you call it when you feel like God gives you a smart swat to your bum.
I choose to employ the term “bum”, often used in the UK, for what we Americans might politely call your “hiney”, “back-end”, or dare I say it– “butt”. Why? Because this adventure happened in the United Kingdom. Specifically, it happened in Scotland.
I wonder if the Scottish have a special word for “bum”? But I digress.
Most specifically, this happened on the island Orkney at the Ring of Brodgar.
If you don’t already know, the Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge, or stone circle, far, far north on the island of Orkney. In fact, it happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You have to take a ferry across the frigid, dark blue waters of the North Sea in order to see it. But it is a sight worth seeing. To me, it is even more striking than Stonehenge, partly because the circle is wider and almost complete, even though the slabs of stone are lighter and thinner than the thick stones of Stonehenge.
When our touring coach stopped, most of us jumped off to grab the obligatory picture. I really didn’t expect to see something quite so lovely–or experience what I did. The slabs of granite stood tall; dignified by the sea and landscape all around it. Heather grew near, low to the ground and bright blue skies brushed the whole picture with a wild airiness that made you feel small and close to the ground like the waving grasses which surround this ancient monument.
We tourists walked that beautiful circle and snapped our pictures. Then BAM! That’s when a realization came to me like a bolt of lightning and lit my brain on fire. The emotions of my heart coalesced into a messy rainbow of wonder, appreciation, indignation, and even anger. It went something like this:
Me: This is amazing!
Someone had done this. We all know someone has done this!
We are all wondering why.
Awww…look at the sky, the grasses, the heather, the bees bumbling in the flowers…
(All the happy feels)
Wait. How strange. We are all wondering about the people who built this Ring of Brodgar. I mean, it’s obvious someone did this on purpose…
Yet, this outer ring, this ring of nature, so much more complicated than the stone one made of rock which doesn’t eat, breathe, or reproduce…we are told it happened by accident?
(Not-so-happy feels.)
That’s insane.
(Now I get a little mad.)
. Why did all my science teachers make me feel like a Neolithic caveman for believing in a Creator?
I feel like yelling at someone.
(The wind blows. The bees buzz. I begin to calm down.)
ACTUALLY, this is good. I feel more sure of God’s creative genius and I also can stop worrying about refuting scads of “evolutionary science”, right?
I mean, rather than me tackling a BIG problem, I can let them settle a SMALLER one. I will let them tell me how the Ring of Brodgar happened by chance–it must have been pretty easy since rocks don’t need to eat, grow, move, or reproduce, right?
Ah yes. Then, together, we can take on the more difficult challenges of how an entire universe “evolved” so perfectly.
I breathe a sigh of relief and receive the wonderful gift of calm. Romans 1 swirls to my consciousness like the wind softly blowing all around me.
“ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
Romans 1:20
Ok. Now to my bum.
I arrived home exhausted after canceled flights and scrambling for new ones. Jet lag grabbed me by the ankle and wouldn’t let me go for about three weeks. During that time of fatigue, I experienced an increase in anxiety and found myself worried about the usual list of things God tells me not to worry about–money, etc.
I took a walk to talk it out with God. That’s when it happened.
I found myself thinking of the Ring of Brodgar and came face to face with my OWN foolishness.
A quiet voice in my heart convicted me. ‘You, KNOW that I created that beautiful ring of nature around the stones of Brodgar. You KNOW I sustain everything and yet you doubt. What is worse? Not believing that I created this world or KNOWING that I did and not trusting me? When you doubt you are in essence walking around the circle of my creation in your own ring of distrust.’
Bum swatted.
I shed a few tears. How true. I admitted that I needed help to trust God with every part of my life. And like a good Father, he helped me to do so. After all, He who created the heavens and the earth, created me too and loves me.
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.” Psalms 19:1-6
Photo: The Ring of Brodgar, 2022. E. Hiett
Walking Towards Sunday 