Although Baxter sometimes exhibits canine characteristics which are a mystery to me, the game of “fetch” isn’t one of them. When I throw a toy for Baxter to retrieve, I only get half of the chase. Baxter runs after the object, but once there, he loses interest and walks away in another direction that catches his fancy more. I suppose he figures that if I threw the toy, it was up to me to get it. After all, Baxter knows he is not my manservant. He’s my cat—my master.
But then I found a new game that changed the terms of the chase. If I take a piece of kibble and throw it in any direction, Baxter takes off after it. Even if it slides under a piece of furniture, he keeps pursuing it, reaching with his paw to try to snag the morsel, rolling on his back to get at it. Then, when he has chomped down that piece, he runs back to me, looking eagerly for another round of the game and ready to run at the next toss of food. This is the best I can do to get Baxter to exercise. It is his version of a treadmill.
What are we willing to pursue with energy and resolve? How easily do we quit the chase? What keeps us coming back for another chance at the race? These are questions we have to raise about our faith and our call to evangelize others. Believing in the God of Jesus is not easy today. There are so many distractions. The pleasures available in our modern world, the pressures of the work place and careers, the problems of contemporary families and communities all serve to derail the race towards something greater in life. Like Baxter running after the toy, we soon lose interest in the holy by the allure of all these other concerns. Unless, we are hungry.
A single piece of kibble can get Baxter to run, find it and come back for more, and so with our faith. A small moment can trigger a hunger for more of God in our life. Holding our infant child or grandchild, feeling remorse over a friendship lost or a sin unforgiven, sensing an emptiness inside that no job, hobby or pleasure can fill, these things can whet our appetite for the holy if we follow their lead. They hold within them God’s call to come closer, probe more deeply, find the lost piece that can nourish our lives.
Pay attention to what living tosses our way. It’s not just a game of fruitless chasing. It holds morsels of divine life discovered when we bite into them with the taste of a seeker of faith. Help others to join in the pursuit. Encourage friends and family who have questions about where is God in this crazy world and what good does He bring to our living. Our questions are God’s way of passing His life and love to us to stir our taste for them. Unless we raise them and pursue them, we will never find the true nourishment of faith that can satisfy them
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For Baxter, the secret to the game of fetch is to throw something ahead of him that feeds him. Then he will come back for another round. The same holds for us in our journey of faith. Go for it!
