At Play in the Fields

As I was walking the other day through the fields, I realized again that my dog, Oreo, has become a part of my relationship with God. As we tramp through the fields around our town together, I notice things about her behaviour and occasionally God will nudge me to reflect on how that particular act might reflect something deeper. 

It is such an amazing adventure to live in a God bathed world. The more I realize His actual presence the more the opportunity for connection with Him becomes a reality. I am looking for Him, expecting Him to speak up at any moment. I am slowly learning what it means to actually walk with God; not just follow His principles or obey His Word, but to actually walk with God.

Yesterday, I went on a walk with Oreo and God. They were both with me the whole time, even when I wasn't consciously aware of their presence. On these rambles across the countryside, I generally let my mind wander. I don't keep a tight rein on it, but let it go where it will following the contours of the land and sky or pondering tasks and relationships. 

As I do so, particular items will come into focus and sometimes I turn toward God and start talking with Him about it; asking Him for His perspective, or a solution to a problem, or just sharing my heart about the topic. After talking for a bit, we lapse into a comfortable silence, like an old married couple.

But sometimes God breaks the silence and pipes up with something He wants me to consider. Ideas that are not my own intrude, or something unexpectedly catches my eye and draws my attention, sending me off on a different train of thought or initiating a prayerful dialogue with Him. 

Yesterday, it was the shear joy of the dog. We were walking in the wind and rain through a field of high grass when she just took off. She was leaping and running in wild circles in a sort of ecstatic dance.. She would occasionally come back to check in or just look my direction. The look of wildness and excitement in her face could only be described as joy. She was loving it, the wildness of the weather, the freedom of her body, the stimulation of the environment. She kept looking in my direction as if to say, "Isn't this great! Come run with me!" I smiled and walked on, unhurried, but enjoying her joy.

Then came the nudge...I realized that my birthright as a child of God is that kind of joy and freedom. The fruit of the Spirit is joy! I too can run with reckless abandon, playing in the fields of the Lord, because He is with me. His rod and His staff, they comfort me. 

Because He is with me and will not leave me or abandon me, because His eye is ever fixed on me, I can release my worry and hyper-vigilant self-protection. He is close, He will warn me if danger enters the field. He will call me back from my wild romp if need be. But he also walks on toward the destination that He knows, unhurried but not unmoved. 

He shares in my joy and spurs me on to love and good deeds, to the eternal kind of life that I long for! He knows the end from the beginning and He is working it all out for my good. My only task then is to walk with Him through life, tuning my ear to His voice and remaining open to His direction. All the rest is play in the fields.

More

My family likes to joke. We like a bit of good natured teasing about our idiosyncrasies and the funny things we do.

One of the sayings that we have adopted to poke fun at my general approach to life is: "If one is good, two is better. If two is better, then three is outstanding. If three is outstanding then four is just great!"

I am a person who always thirsts for more. It is deep in me. I see it in all areas of my life. It's not a choice I make, it is core to who I am to want more. There is a passion and extremeness inside of me that is just there. I didn't put it there, I don't know how it got there, but it's there. It's not always a bad thing as it has propelled me forward in my relationship with God and to attempt things that others might not.

The Enneagram has been a helpful tool for me to understand this aspect of my personality. I have found other personality/temperament tools helpful for other reasons, but this aspect of me was never adequately addressed through the DISC, the MBTI, or the Kolbe. Don't get me wrong, I have profited from all of these, but this core aspect of me was inadequately explained.

A few years ago a friend introduced me to the Enneagram and I began to wrestle with the definitions. The model has 9 core personality types. One of the key ways to identify your type is to look at all of them and identify the one that repulses you most. That is probably you, the one that includes your core sinful predisposition. The one you don't want to be. The negative traits of other types actually seem less negative than the one your left with.

This is hard, but Enneagram is a useful tool for spiritual formation in that it pushes you to identify your core disposition  the good the bad and the ugly. Who wants to stand up and say, "Hi I'm an Eight and my core sin is lust!" Even worse is when some else says, "Oh yeah, you're an Eight all right. Lust is totally your thing...lust and confrontation!"

So, I'm an Eight. Now what!?

While the Enneagram identifies your weaknesses, it is essentially a tool for self-awareness and growth. By giving me awareness and understanding I can choose to grow. I can choose to stop acting in ways that re-enforce the negative aspects of me and to cultivate the opposite traits, while not losing the positive elements that accompany my type.

So why am I writing about this today. Because I have been puzzling over certain behaviours and wondering what drives me. Specifically, last night I stayed up until 4AM. No good reason. I just didn't feel tired. So, I read a little, researched some, watched some videos, and generally just puttered around until 4AM. I wasn't doing anything bad, just not going to bed because I wasn't "tired".

Today I'm tired. I sat down with the Lord this morning and my reading was in Matthew 11 where Jesus invites those who are weary to come to Him and rest. That sounded really good this morning, but why didn't it sound good last night? As I sat there pray-pondering it occurred to me that I have redefined tired as exhausted. I don't feel "tired" until I am well beyond actual tiredness and I'm at total exhaustion.

As I pondered this, I suddenly realized that this too is a part of being an Eight. I started to take stock of my life and realize that I tend to redefine everything in the extreme. At meals I push right past satiated to stuffed. I zoom past tired on the way to exhaustion. I don't go for a short walk, I walk for miles. I don't do a little gardening; once I'm started, I garden for hours.

So, today I am aware in a new way, and because I am aware I have choices to make. I can choose moderation. I can try to rediscover normal tiredness. I can choose not to push myself or others to extremes but can choose moderation and relaxation.

This seems to be the call of God for me today. I'm just glad he showed up this morning. He's good like that.