Having a pet takes work. You have to feed and water your charge daily. You have to provide for its bathroom habits. You have to pay attention to it, talk to it, play with it, groom it. You have to clean up after pets-spills, tuffs of hair, paw tracks. You have to accept these terms of pet ownership, if your cat, dog or other critter is not just to survive, but to thrive in sharing life with you. Having a pet carries with it responsibili-ties and chores that your animal is counting on you to fulfill, if it is to be healthy and happy.
Any significant relationship we have takes work. We are not simply, conveniently connected to each other whimsically, if our relationship matters in any way. We have to make time and space for those who mean something to our lives. We have to respond when they ask for help in some way. We have to care for them, if they can’t care for themselves, and we have to take time just to be with them, if we value their relationship. Love and friendship aren’t free. They cost us by taking pieces of our lives and sharing them with those we hold dear. We can’t keep our own lives self-contained and expect to feel needed and loved. We have to tie ourselves together in concrete ways and bear the burdens and sacrifices of these ties, to know the warmth, security and meaning that come in a true and honest loving rela-tionship. We lose a part of our lives to gain a larger life in loving another.
This holds for God’s life with us as well. God loves us before we know it, and He will never withdraw His love from us no matter what we do or what happens in our world. But we cannot experience God’s love for us unless we are able to respond to God with thoughts, feelings and actions that make our divine connection a reality in our lives. Negative thinking about how awful our lives are will never allow God to show us His care. Fear of divine punishment and resentment over life’s unfairness leave no room for the light and peace of eternal life. Efforts that are merely self-serving and self-aggrandizing will never build a better world in which all of us can live happier lives.
This cost of caring is shown to us on the cross. There Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice to show His divine love and how it saves us. Any human thoughts about revenge for this suffering were transformed into words of forgiveness and mercy. Any feelings of despair and disillusionment gave way to those of trust in His Father and abandonment to His will. Finally, in handing over His Spirit on the cross, Jesus gives us the power of divine life to use in carrying on His work of building God’s Kingdom in our midst. This total picture reveals the work of grace in the working of our relationships. God uses our efforts at conscientious care for each other to transform us into His holy people, to help us grow in our discipleship, and to teach us how much He loves us.
Don’t worry, Baxter. You’re safe with me. I’m not going anywhere—and neither is God!
