Devotional/Commentary
Zurburt!
My eight year old daughter loves bedtime. I go in, kiss her and my son and then say our bedtime prayers. Then, it’s zurburt time. She wiggles and giggles and says “nooo mom,” but she really wants me to wrestle her arms away and blow loud on her cute little belly. She wants that zurbut, but most of all she needs it. She needs to see that she is loved so much that I will make the “effort” to get to that belly. She needs the touch and feel of my love for her. She needs the reassurance that when she opens herself up, she will be loved and that brings her confidence and assurance in a world that sometimes is rough on us.
My eleven year old son is just too cool for zurburts now. Somewhere along the way he lost some of that childhood innocence and I have to struggle a little more than before to express my affection. Still, I tell him: “Here comes the zurburt.” He lays corpse-like with his arms covering his mid-section and puts on his most serious face. I wrestle, I giggle and I make sure he gets his much-needed zurburt too. I always get a smile, though it might be small, and I know that maybe he doesn’t think he wants that loud raspberry on his belly, but he needs it just as much, and maybe more, than my daughter does.
After this fond tradition each night, I sometimes wonder, why as we get older, we stop giggling and laughing and opening up ourselves to life’s zurburts. Is it because we feel uncomfortably vulnerable to that kind of love and affection? Opening up to someone’s silly demonstration of love can feel scary. Still, once we do open up, we find we allow ourselves a joy that only being a little vulnerable can bring.
Open wide your arms today and let some love and joy tickle your belly. Receive the love and comfort that is out there waiting for you.
Then, go zurburt someone you love.
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