What About Bubba?

This morning I am thinking about a story I heard a woman tell on the radio yesterday.  She shared an event from her childhood, in which they experienced car trouble while out doing errands with their mother one day.  She said her mom had no sooner pulled over to the side of the road, when they saw smoke and flames emerging from under the hood.  I could vividly imagine it as she described the mom hurrying her two daughters out of the vehicle.  Holding hands, the three made a mad dash to get a safe distance away.  What she shared next caught me completely by surprise.  While they were running, her sister suddenly asked, “What about Bubba?”  In their haste, they had taken off and left their baby brother in the car!  It turns out that the little boy was retrieved without harm.  In fact, she wrapped up her story by saying, “We still tease him about that all the time.”  I was so relieved that, in the end, they were all okay.  Now, I admit that I sometimes find humor in the silliest things, but when she finished her story I started to crack up.  I laughed the rest of the way to work, and I was still laughing as I walked into my office building.  Throughout the day, I’d start to chuckle again each time I thought of that sweet little voice asking, “What about Bubba?”  As I’m sitting here now, the story is speaking to me again, not so much in humor as in exhortation.  Lately I have been profoundly aware of certain conditions, mindsets, and habits in my life that I need to abandon very quickly.  I perceive how these things are much like vehicles by which I have become accustomed to being carried, sometimes for decades.  Though they may have served me well for a while, they are starting to show signs of breaking down.  It is quite evident that they are no longer going to work for me.  In fact, they could cause me immeasurable harm if I don’t separate myself from them speedily.  As I consider how I will apply this truth I in my life, I hear the words:  “Don’t forget about Bubba.”  I’m smiling because I know exactly what this means.  It means that I should be ever mindful of the priceless lessons and the precious people who, over the years, have become a significant part of me.  To put it another way, I should take heed not to throw out the baby with the bath water.  I am deeply grateful for the special gifts of love and favor in my life that are intended to remain, while more transitory things may fail or even burn up.  I make no pretenses.  I’m not perfect.  Even as I earnestly strive to do what I know I’m called to do, I sometimes miss things that are really important.  Yet, I believe that before I can ever go too far, I will always hear a sweet Voice that jars me back to my senses.  I will retrieve and reclaim all the good that is meant for me.  And, in the end, I know I will be okay.