I’m having one of those “low-focus” days. Oodles of work to keep me at a full sprint for weeks, and my mind is lost in daydreams and wanderings. Sometimes, I find, I do my best work when I let my brain wander and peruse different thought passageways for awhile. I’m able to come back and suddenly all of the connections I need to complete a complex challenge at work are firing again… So. Musing on here…

I took my dogs for a lovely hike this morning. Having worked both late and early today, I felt a couple of hours lost in the woods would be time well spent to rest and replenish.

My favourite hikes are ones where you crest a hill or turn a corner, and suddenly – silence –

You pause, and it’s as though the silence itself carries weight; you see more clearly, you hear more acutely, you smell the freshness of a nearby flowering tree, you finally hear the burble of the stream that you’ve been walking alongside clearly and loudly. It’s as though all the noise we carry with us throughout each day, the noise that fills our minds and thoughts is just gracefully lifted from us and we finally experience the world we are in.

I stood there and just marveled. It wasn’t the most scenic of hikes, it’s a plantation forest without views, but has a pretty little stream and a lovely meandering path that can get your heart rate up if you go fast enough; through the stands of tall spindly trees you see moss covered rocky outcrops, lovely trilliums finishing their springtime blooms; the light from above filters through the treetops illuminating the spreading branches of huckleberry plants and small maple trees. Everything gloriously, richly green and gold. Can you picture yourself there? Breathing deep?

In Japan, they call this type of a walk Shirin-Yoku. Good for the soul, good for the mind. Good to pause and think and reflect. It hits all the right brain receptors, gets the dopamine flowing, you can’t help but smile. You know?

And so, as I stood there looking around me, I laughed with joy at the sweetness of my dogs. Doing all their doggy things. And, as oftentimes happens when I let myself be open and be quiet, the Holy Spirit joins me and I am so lifted up in every way. Even now, hours later, when the weight of my workload is fully upon me, I’m smiling with remembrance of the embrace and love I felt on my walk.

Oh sure, I know, the cynical scientistic minds out there – rolling your eyes – okay, crazy lady, stop it. It’s just dopamine. Hook up some receptors, we can tell you what happened.

Sure, fine – science has a kind of explanation… it’s about as high quality an explanation as to why we should eat Garlic and Honey – two gorgeously healthy foods that we cannot replicate with any amount of science, but we know they’re incredibly good for our bodies. We know walking in nature heals us, we know it’s good for our minds, and barring some kind of incredible holodeck, we cannot replicate what happens. It’s easy to be cynical, really and truly. It’s easy to fall back on the science. It’s maybe harder to admit to yourself that God is there, present, and waiting for you to engage.

Okay. And So. I engaged. I reflected. I let my mind wander where the Holy Spirit took me today. So many places, but the thought that stayed with me from beginning to end of my experience was on pets, animals, furry creatures, lovely dogs.

Why do we have pets? Why? Why bother? There used to be a tangible benefit to having them hanging around. Cats catch mice and rodents. Dogs helped us with hunting and security. I mean, if you’re starving, I suppose you could eat them (I could not, let’s be clear on that – I do not eat friends…hahah). There are costs with pets, responsibility and care. The companion is fully dependent on you – which is why some people equivocate pet ownership to having children. Perhaps our love for our pets comes, in part, because of the necessary responsibilities of caring for them.

Societally, more than ever, we’re coming to realize how much of a mutual partnership and friendship we have with our “pets” – they’re not just ‘property’ to be used and deployed for specific purposes.

I’ve never had a period of time in my life without a cat or dog, fish, chicken, guinea pig; I know people who swear of the intelligence and loving nature of their rats; and if you ever spend anytime around horse people, oh boy – you just know there is a special connection there. There are videos online of people playing music for herds of cows. Befriending wild animals. When we see a bear – we’re more fascinated than fearful. Skunks are far cooler in person than I ever thought they would be.

But… WHY?

I believe God extended to us an olive branch in the form of animal companionship. We fell. We fell so hard – we left Eden; we separated ourselves from the natural world. But yet, it is still here. God’s world that he made, with all of the creatures and all of the birds and all of the fish is still very much present. It’s US – humans – we are the part that stepped aside; that lost an intimate connection to and bond with the natural world given to us by God. But I believe that God, in His infinite wisdom and knowledge, knew how important it was for us to not fully disconnect and disengage from His gift and the natural order of things. We are called to shepherd the world, to be it’s stewards… but we cannot be if we don’t care about its contents; otherwise all we do is rape and pillage and destroy in the name of commerce and possession. There are plenty of examples of our behaviour in that regard.

But to have a companion such as a dog or cat or chicken (chickens are truly fun friends, I highly recommend them if you have the space and ability to keep things clean) is to have a bridge to a world we lost.

I don’t have many great answers; I can stay awake for days pondering what to do about food. If we love animals and we recognize that they were put on this earth by God, it’s truly throat choking to consume them. The first time I plucked a chicken to eat – I couldn’t eat fowl for a solid year. The smell just overwhelmed me. The first time my ex handed me a gun to shoot a bear or a bird, I simply could not do it. I can handle a gun fairly well – or I could when I practiced – but I absolutely cannot take a life. These days even spiders and wasps often get a pass from me (and if you know me at all, you know I cannot stand spiders).

So – the point today that I wish to share is simply one of Love. The Love of our God, that He knew we needed to remain connected to the earth and the animals he created to be here with us. Not everyone wants or should be a pet “owner” (or rather, caretaker), and there’s a great deal to be said about being responsible. But, when I walk through the woods with my dogs, or I sit at home with a purring cat in my lap, or laughing as chickens follow me all around the yard, I feel a connection to something so much greater than myself. And there is the Love, right there, right beyond our consciousness waiting for us to see it and embrace Him.

So. Go for a walk today. Smile. Breathe…and when things finally go still for you (which I pray they do), reach out with your senses and see if you too can feel God’s love and try to take the science out of the experience. Just breathe. He’s there waiting.