Dogs and trucks were made for each other. Some dogs ride in them, others want to chase them. Whatever joy is derived on behalf of the dog, however, is genuine and without artifice. When they ride, they ride with windows down, noses up, and a look in their eye that says life just doesn’t get any better than in this particular moment. When they chase, ill-advised as that is, it is all out, winner take all. There is a lot to be said for living in the moment.
The same can apply to daily living as well. We become so consumed by the work that must be done that we forget to embark on invigorating emotional joyrides when opportunities arise. These joyrides are not the dangerous kind in as much as they represent an invitation to fuller living that elevates and sustains. Fresh perspectives, challenges of the road, and exercising the mind contribute to bracing and stimulating experiences. Such experience fires the imagination, which in turn leads to asking more questions, a hallmark of healthy Christianity.
Why should we be surprised when many claim to have the answers but frankly do not seem any better or worse off than anyone else? That’s when it’s time to roll down the windows on the old church jalopies we’ve been driving for decades and take in all the fresh air we can. Periodic review of our particular church allegiances can help replace the stale air of traditional religion with something we can call upon to sustain us to bring us alive in our daily comings and goings.
Poet Gregory Orr is fond of using the word ‘beloved’ to describe the community we seek. It is a broad word that encompasses all that we are, but that also requires attentiveness. Beloved community in faith, work, and family — can be incredibly life sustaining if we allow, opening wider and deeper comprehension of the days we have lived and the days yet before us. Scripture frequently implores us to share the joy of the Lord without defining the particulars. That call is a call to participate in community, an appeal to step forward and join others in helping to figure out this incredibly complicated thing we call life.
And what if the joy of the Lord is absent for a time due to everyday travails? It is incumbent on beloved community to step up, to support, to work, to function, and to think on behalf of each other until, with God’s patient presence, we begin once again to think for ourselves. Beloved community is God present with and within us.
The dogs, meanwhile, remain ecstatic each time we come or go, no matter the length of our absence. Their enthusiasm and loyalty is infectious. The moments they fully engage don’t always make sense but they generally don’t ask my opinion. They are too busy celebrating the million smells a second going by the open windows of whatever vehicle they claim for their joyride. There is simply no time to lose by analyzing it all. At times, the joy comes unbidden in subtle moments, nuanced and quiet. At other times it roars through the cab, windows down, sending caps flying and promising something amazing just over the next rise. Can we celebrate both? (kf)
Haxtun Church Of The Brethren 