I have had an unusual day, hitting one of the sales and
replenishing some of my tired wardrobe (will that help my tired body?). I was
also looking for a special wedding present which I didn’t quite decide on, but
it was a very pleasant morning.
Came home and did a bit of sprucing up of the pots of
flowers for the winter, and while throwing out the detritus I ended up by Dusty’s
last resting place. It is a lovely spot, overlooking the field but the long
view takes in the hill over Banchory called Scolty. The Hill of Fare also looms
large-ish and grounds this area in Scottish history. Maybe Mary Queen of Scots
stood here while watching the rout of the Catholic faction in a decisive battle
a few hundred years ago.
But I digress.
While pausing by Dusty’s grave, I reflected on the joy she
brought me during her life. She was a dog who lived large. Undeterred by a
particularly nasty leg break at 7 weeks old, her speed when chasing a ball (or
a deer for that matter ;-( ) was remarkable. She derived ecstatic happiness
from leaping with complete abandon into any body of water into which someone
obligingly threw a stick or two.
I have spent many happy moments laughing like a lunatic
perhaps as she raced and sprang into the loch at Crathes Castle or the River
Dee. She didn’t pause to consider any possible reasons for not leaping with
such commitment, to her shocked bruising one winter when a certain person who
shall remain unnamed mischievously tossed a stick onto the frozen loch...ouch!
Factoring in the ice, or any other hazards, just did not
occur to nor hinder Dusty. Just a week before her death, she managed half a
walk at Crathes Castle, wading in after sticks with the same determination but
with an unobliging body which gave her much grief for a couple of days
afterwards in the form of stiffness. Her spirit remained strong and her joie de
vivre only evaporated over her last weekend.
It’s a bit odd taking a lesson from your dead dog, perhaps,
but I am. I want to live my remaining days LARGE. I want to throw myself into
whatever project I feel called to do with total commitment. I don’t want to
hang back hesitating, considering the possible problems. I don’t want to live
by the guidelines of proper Health & Safety procedures but by the
guidelines of God, whose Word (the Bible) is a lamp to my feet, guiding me
through the sometimes dark present into the unknown future.
His Word confirms that we have been given a spirit of
boldness and not timidity.
So, thank you Dusty for living so large and leaving the
memory of that as a real legacy for me. I just need to keep receptive to other
sources of joy and laughter which abound in each of our lives.
Thank you God, for such a gift of life, and thank you Jesus
for coming so that we might live life to the full in the power of your
indwelling Spirit.
