Dogs and Babies

Sometimes I walk dogs and sometimes I take care of children and what I have realized is we have a lot to learn from them. For instance, when I’m holding onto a leash and I say it’s safe to cross the street, the dog doesn’t question that; he crosses. He doesn’t start to get creative and independent in the thinking and decide I might be tricking him. He doesn’t think I’m probably leading him into danger because he needs to learn a lesson; he doesn’t assume getting run over by a car is my hope for him. Maybe he’s just clued into the fact that I would get hit by the car too, so I’ll be really careful. I don’t know. I just know he trusts my timing.

Also, he follows me around the house. I’m talking everywhere. I put my glass in the sink, he comes. I brush my teeth, he comes. I go to the table to study, he comes. Watching TV, he’s at my feet. Go make dinner, at my feet. This is a creature completely in tune with my presence, completely in tune with my actions and voice and intentions, and there’s nothing in it for him. Just the chance to be near me, and that’s all he wants.

It’s not much different with babies. Until they start crawling, they need your presence more than anything in the world. They need you to place food in their mouths. They need you to teach them to understand and speak. They need you to rock them to sleep, to get them on schedule, to hold them, to keep them warm. They don’t even know what they want; all they know is pain and pleasure, and how your presence is the lifeblood of their existence. I’ve never met a baby who didn’t trust. I’ve never met a baby who thought I’d probably feed them motor oil in the next bottle. And I’ve never met a baby who didn’t know that when I smile, laugh, cuddle them, life is really going to be just perfect.

I know this is the way to real life and joy, and the reason we’re not all like this is because the Fall taught us to ask, “Is God good?” It taught us we can’t trust the character of our caregiver, that he might want to wound us, and that we don’t need to follow him around because we know better ourselves. The tree of knowledge taught us falsity. And my default is to prepare for a bottle of motor oil when He longs to give good things. It can be tricky when the good things taste like oil, but that too is because of the Fall and our warped perception of gift, so I’m daily learning to ask for the eyes to see. Eyes to see everything as gift from the hand of a good God, whose character is perfect. The good news is that as my nature is redeemed I’m getting better at crossing the street with Him, and I’m learning through experience and the blind eyes of faith that Yes! God is good! Some days I don’t follow him to the kitchen but some days I do, and I think that’s the Christian life, this practicing for reunion with our God in the Garden. We practice as we notice his trustworthiness and choose to trust him like Abraham, like dogs and babies, and I pray every day for more grace to trust him better.