For a little over two hours today, I spent time with Journey the Dog. He’s a one-year-old Shih Tzu who is very fluffy and cute. We took one walk by the river in the rain and another walk on the neighborhood road. We played with a stuffed hedgehog and a stuffed worm, and Journey worked hard to get the rubber band out of my hair so that he could play with it. In the process, he cleaned a small portion of my hair.
Journey and I had a good time together and I was thankful for the day’s work. It wasn’t hard work. It was fun. And simple. And it even gave me a few minutes to read (with my ears) while we took the neighborhood walk.
The neatest thing that happened, though, was a baby deer running through the woods in the rain. I don’t know where the deer came from or where he ended up going, but for one brief moment, I watched him run parallel to river, stop by a wood pile, look back at Journey and me, and then run away through the neighbor’s yard. He looked scared. Maybe he was. Maybe Journey and I startled him as he was burrowing in the woods. Or maybe he didn’t know where he was. Where were his parents? His family? And why was he running alone? Had he been adventurous and wandered off? Had he been abandoned? Were there enough woods left in the neighborhood in which he could survive?
As Journey stood motion and bark-less, I did the same. I listened to the river flowing, felt the rain falling, and watched as nature did her thing before my eyes. It was beautiful. Then I followed as Journey retraced the deer’s tracks until he lost the scent.
The speed of my life is a lot slower today than it was a year ago at this time. When I wasn’t nannying Journey today, I was helping my mom clean the house. Tomorrow, I’ll help my sister clean her house and I’ll both babysit and teach music to her children. Wednesday, I’ll spend time with an 83-year-old woman who is lonely and needs help shopping and cleaning and remembering what day it is. Thursday, I may do the same. Friday, I’ll visit Journey again and then celebrate my mom’s birthday by playing games and eating sandwiches with my family.
This is my life right now. This is where God has led. It’s not what the world deems acceptable for an almost 36-year-old master’s degree holder. If I’m lucky, then I make just enough money to pay my bills each month, and my bills are small compared to the average persons’ these days. I’m not contributing to a retirement plan. I’m not putting away money in savings. My tithe is tiny because my “paycheck” is the same. Things of old are passing away and things of new are trying to burst through dark ground.
My heart is waiting. But life is not standing still.
How ironic that my latest job is with a creature named Journey.
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