What Jack Knows

About 2 months ago, we acquired (isn't Craig's List great?) a 10 yr. old black lab named Jack. It was obvious that he was well-cared for and loved and we're trying to carry on the baton.
Jack is a simple creature; he needs to eat, he needs to relieve himself, he needs water, he needs exercise. Jack is curious; he stops, starts, darts, digs for (and probably dreams of) whatever is living in that hole or crack in the ground, surrounded by burrs and weeds. For Jack, a walk and run around the yard and neighborhood - having the liberty to explore the world around him - this is life itself; all the hours of waiting for that "freedom" are prologue. Jack doesn't own a 401k, can't jump in his car and purchase something he's been pining or lusting for. He doesn't dream of no debt, no worries. His only debts are simple, his only worries are whether potential prey will escape or be undiscovered.

Jack has helped me in a number of ways. Meeting his needs (to be "out") has forced me to meet some of my own needs - exercise, quiet, unprogrammed time, wonder, time to gaze at the dark night and experience the crisp dawn. Why didn't I do this 30 years ago? Jack doesn't take time to look back - his adventure is always ahead, he's always ready or getting ready (read: resting :=). So I meet his needs and he returns something to me - could this be analog to relationships? To Relationship? God meets my needs before I wake, before I first awoke; can I return something to Him? Can I give Him the gratitude, the devotion, the obedience, the worship He deserves? "Life with Jack" demonstrates the the simple axiom of giving first, receiving abundantly - just as Christ models for us. Can I live in that? And am I to Jack as God is to me? Does Jack know I care for him? Does he know how he blesses me? Don't know - his adventure/my adventure is always ahead.

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Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect (His goal for me), but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do. Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lays ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are [mature] have this attitude which was also in Christ Jesus, and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. from Philippians 3 - NASB