Have you heard of the handsome trig?
Personally, I had not. In fact, if you had asked me such a question, I would wonder if you were talking about some type of math equation. “Trigonometry? I forgot all about that years ago!” Or perhaps I would have thought that you were maybe being cute, referring to one of your grandchildren or maybe a nephew that you like. “You’ve seen my handsome trig haven’t you? He’s adorable!” Maybe you have some kind of code, some type of slang for your family of which I am not familiar. You see your grandson, pinch his cheeks and say “What a handsome trig you are!!!”
Handsome trig?
Nope. Never heard of it.
The other day I saw one. A handsome trig. There it was right in front of me as I got out of my car, and it caused me to stop for a minute. I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at, but I wanted to see it longer. I wanted to pause for a moment to observe. I wanted to take note of its characteristics. Its size. Its shape. Its color. If it made noise, I wanted to hear it. As it moved, I wanted to watch it. I wanted to know all about it because once it left, I knew what I was going to do next…Google it. I had to know what this thing was all about.
Let me describe it for you. Small. Insect. Brightly colored, red head and thorax (that’s the middle part of the insect…in between the head and the abdomen). Black abdomen. Green legs that looked like a cricket or a grasshopper’s legs.
What a weird thing (at least to me). It seemed all mixed up, but there it was. Red head. Black body. Green cricket legs. Like a kid’s coloring book who didn’t want Jiminy to look too boring. How could such a thing be? Aren’t crickets usually brown or black or yellowish or maybe a bit green? Red and black and green? All on one cricket? Never heard of them. Hadn’t seen such a thing.
I looked it up, and there it was. Google said it’s called a handsome trig.
As it turns out, handsome trigs aren’t that unusual. They aren’t that uncommon. I wasn’t familiar with them, but apparently they are a thing. Handsome trigs. Otherwise known as red-headed bush crickets. Who knew? (Ok. Maybe you did. Not me.)
Maybe you’re not that into insects (I’m not really either), and maybe you would think that the name of this one should be the “ugly trig,” but seeing it reminded me of an important practice that we should develop in our life…the practice of noticing.
Sometimes in life there will be things that are presented to us, things that God wants to reveal to us or show us, but we have to become familiar and comfortable with noticing things.
I have walked by the bush that held the handsome trig a ton of times without ever seeing a bug like that. It is right beside where I park my car. Typically I don’t see these bugs there. The other day was different. One was there. Now granted, it could have been there before, but this time I saw it. I noticed it. My eyes became aware that there was something unusual present. I was able to see this weird bug with a red head, a black body and green legs.
It is an important practice to develop. We need to notice things.
Take, for instance, Moses.
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
~ Exodus 3:1-2
If you know the story of Moses and are familiar with the story of Israel’s deliverance, you know that life is about to change for Moses in a dramatic way. The burning bush is the time that God speaks to Moses and begins to direct Moses into how he should lead God’s people to the Promised Land. (If you aren’t familiar with this story, pull out your Bible and start in Exodus chapter 1. It’s good stuff.)
BEFORE life could change for Moses,
BEFORE God would speak to Moses from that bush,
BEFORE God would use Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land,
BEFORE Moses was established as a central character in the history of Israel and in Christian faith,
BEFORE all of that happened, do you know what Moses did?
He noticed.
He noticed something out of the ordinary.
“There is a bush that is burning, but it isn’t burning.”
“There is a bush that burns, but it is not burnt up.”
“There is something remarkable.”
“There is something extraordinary.”
“There is something.”
Moses noticed.
“But Pastor Chris, I would notice if a bush was burning but was not being consumed. I would notice if something was on fire but not being burnt up.”
I pray that is true, but let me ask you…are you noticing God in your life now? Do you see God in your day-to-day life regularly? Do you witness God’s handiwork? Do you marvel at God’s creation? Can you see the fingerprints of God in what is around you? Have you noticed?
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
~ Psalms 19:1
God has created. God has made. God has designed. God has crafted. God continues to do all of these things, and if we pay attention, if we notice, we can see that God’s creation points back to Him. We can see that God’s handiwork points our attention back to God. If we notice, we can see God through His work.
Noticing is important. It is important that we notice. It is a practice that I want for us to be in the habit of doing. I want for us to be a people who notice.
Beyond noticing, do you know what else is important?
Action.
Change of course. Change of behavior. Maybe we need to stop what we are doing to observe, to listen, to examine, to see.
I could have glanced at the bug and thought, “huh that’s strange” and continued on my way. By acting, by stopping, by observing, by examining, by seeing, I was able to experience more. I was able to discover more. I was able to have my world expanded further so that it now includes the handsome trig, the red-headed bush cricket.
I know. That’s not really that big of a deal. I could have functioned just fine without that particular knowledge, but what if this was a one-in-a-million, extremely rare, endangered insect? What if catching this bug would have been the chance to restore some lost ecosystem? What if there was more? After we notice, action is often required.
Let’s return to Moses for our example.
So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
~ Exodus 3:3
Moses noticed. Then Moses acted. Moses went over to see what was happening. He went to see. He asked, “What’s the deal, yo?” Moses didn’t just continue on his way, he didn’t just keep on minding the flock and not worrying about the bush. Instead he noticed and then he acted. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just a red-headed bush cricket, but maybe it was more.
Turns out it was more.
So much more.
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
~ Exodus 3:4
The rest, as they say, is history. This experience at the bush began a conversation between Moses and God that set Moses down a path that forever changed the course of humankind.
Why?
Because Moses noticed and responded.
Don’t get me wrong. God was the initiator of this entire endeavor. God acted first. God set the bush on fire without it being consumed, but then God waited. God waited to see if Moses would notice. God waited to see if Moses would respond. Once Moses did those two things, God called him to a journey, a world, a purpose that Moses would have never seen or experienced.
Can you imagine if Moses didn’t notice?
Can you imagine if Moses didn’t go over to see what was happening, if he didn’t respond?
We’d be telling the stories of some other dude, some other guy who God used to accomplish the plans that He had set. Moses wouldn’t even be a thought in our heads.
So, friend, I ask you, are you noticing? Are you seeing the things of God in your life? If so, here’s the follow up question: are you then responding? Are you acting upon what you have been seeing?
If not, would you pray this prayer:
“God, open my eyes that I may see You. Open my ears that I might hear You. Open my heart that I might love You. Help me to notice You, Lord, and help me to respond. Help me be open to You and responsive to You.” Amen.
~ Pastor Chris
