The Path and the Destination

 

by Brother Luke

Sometimes when I set out for a walk with my dogs, I do not have a particular route in mind. Usually, they are resting in their crates in our “mud room,” which exits our building behind the Bell Tower. That is the quickest way out and often the most efficient. But if I want them to get water before we go, I have to go out the back door past other dogs in their crates. That’s more of a challenge and may affect my choice of routes outside. Once outside, I have many options. Which one to choose?

Does it matter? To me, maybe, but not to my dogs. They will enjoy their romp in the woods no matter what the season or which trail I pick. So, I pick the trail and they go with it. Dogs operate in nature as they are designed to do, and they are not troubled by the need to wrestle with choices of right or wrong. It’s not exactly autopilot; they do have to operate within their framework. Bark, growl, or bite may be determined by circumstances, training, or temperament, but whatever response the dog makes to the immediate circumstance will never be a sin. They are always doing what God designed them for. Sin is a break with God. Dogs can’t break with God. They’re not designed to. When they chew up the cushion of your favorite chair, as my Fiby recently did, it’s not a sin; it means their handler (me) needs to reinforce already learned training. In my case, Fiby is still young and needs to continue to learn what are and what are not acceptable toys. She thought it was a great toy and I was so good to her to leave it for her to chew up! It also had my scent. Meanwhile, Lucy was there and did not join in the game. Lucy is three and is of our breeding and has lived with me for two-plus years. Fiby is two and was imported from Germany just last year and has lived with me less than one year. These things all matter.

We humans have to struggle with endless choices and decisions. This is how we are designed. We have been graced with free will. But free will means we can try to keep our connection with God, or go our own way. In the Judeao-Christian tradition, the story of Adam and Eve lays out that basic premise. Can we trust God?

Our dogs trust us, and we are certainly flawed. I open the door and my dogs fly outside, make a dash for the open space next to our church. They start to play and then they stop to look back at me. Keeping the connection. Keeping our connection with God is not so easy. No matter how many times we may read the passage in Matthew (6:26), where Christ talks about God taking care of the birds in the air or the flowers in the field, which are here today and gone tomorrow, and how much more God cares for us, we are often not convinced. This may be because we are being invited by God into the darkness, the unknown, and we want safety and security, on our terms.

In a sense we invite our dogs into the darkness, but they trust us. As we navigate our life, despite all our planning and preparation, much remains out of our control. Despite what we might imagine, we didn’t create this world, or this cosmos. Whether or not we are willing to absorb the implications of that reality, the world does not operate on our terms. And we can’t make it do so. We can worry and be anxious, but that will not change reality. Whatever path we tread, the destination is the same. We will undoubtedly make mistakes along the way. We may forget God, even though God never forgets us. The Good News is that God is always with us on that path.

What we might learn from our dogs is trust. As believers, we call that faith.

Click here to watch video of Lucy and Fiby in the woods.


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