Join me on a tour (for I call it a tour rather than a journey as I am just passing through this world) as I ponder the life around me and in me. Random thoughts, musings and ideas from a mind that does not know any better.
This post is in response to a one word at a time blog carnival by Peter Pollock entitled Pets. For me that could easily have been Dogs. I am an unashamed dog person. We had a cat once. (It wasn't just my first cat, it was my last cat). But we are dog people. The two in the picture are the current generation: the Shepard was put to sleep last November at nearly 13; the Shepard/Retriever/Who knows what else mix is still with us at 15. Hard of hearing, shaky on her feet, a gimpy leg and possibly the onset of doggie dementia, but still with us. With her breeds and size, a human equivalent age that one normally only sees in the Book of Genesis anymore, but still with us.
The thing about dogs is they exhibit many of the qualities one would love to see in people; unconditional love, unswerving loyalty, and unabashed happiness when they enter your presence. The way we should be in the presence of the Lord, but are most often not.
I think that is why we grow so attached to them: the qualities they exhibit we know we should as well, yet they do not call us to task for it nor do they rub it in our faces (they are more likely to roll around on their backs in the grass than do that).
Dogs would make pretty darn fine people, but we would probably make miserable dogs.
"Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone is our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so."
Two years ago, my first theology professor suggested we read Pascal. I finally started a read. I am glad I did, but this guy can be harder to understand than C S Lewis, and that is saying something.
But this passage hit me with amazing clarity. Which was nice because after over a dozen pages of huh?, it was nice to have something click finally. This passage immediately brought a verse of Scripture into mind:
Our happiness requires to live within the present, content with the provision of the day as the Lord has given it to us. Our joy comes from the eternal security that is ours in Jesus. I wrote some time ago about the difference between the two on this blog. I do not know if my old buddy Blaise had this Scripture passage in mind, but as I read him I did.
We are often surrounded with unhappy people, we are often that person. When that person is me, it is because I have focused too much on the future, too much on myself and not enough on living in the Lord in the present. He is sufficient, in His sovereign grace, for me each and every day. I would do good to remember that more regularly.
I am doing a bible study on Philippians. We just started it, still in Chapter 1. We spent a lot of time discussing the differences between happiness and joy.
the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation: She felt the joy of seeing her son's success.
2.
a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated: Her prose style is a pure joy.
3.
the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.
4.
a state of happiness or felicity.
The dictionary definitions do not quite make the distinction needed when studying the biblical concept of joy, especially in a letter like the one Paul wrote to the church at Philippi. In this context, happiness is a state of mind brought about by present circumstances one finds pleasurable. When the circumstances change or weary you, the pleasure dims or disappears. Joy is the state brought about by the assurance one has because of faith in Jesus Christ. It is a confident assurance in God's love and His sovereign ability to work in your life, no matter the present set of circumstances you find yourself in. It is why Paul could express joy in a letter written while he was in prison (probably in Rome). Paul wasn't happy to be in prison, but he was joyful at the opportunity to share the Gospel with people he would not have come into contact if not imprisoned:
12Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel,
13so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else,
14and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.
What faith to have: to be incredibly joyful in the face of personal unhappiness. What strength of faith to feel that way, and live that way, in the name of Jesus.
