For the past few weeks, I occasionally see a man walking his dog. He's walking two dogs, in a way. He holds an older dog cradled in one arm, while holding the leash of the other dog. When he gets to a patch of grass, he puts the older dog down so that she go to the bathroom, and then he picks her back up again.
I spoke to him briefly one morning, which is how I know the dog is female and 18 years old. I told that man that it made me happy to see him taking such good care of his dog, and he shrugged off my praise.
As I've watched the man care for his two dogs, I've thought of that care as a way of understanding how God cares for creation. While I want to believe in a God that gives us everything we want and need, if we just pray hard enough or do the right kind of visioning exercises, I can't really make that idea work and still believe in free will. While I want to believe in a God that can swoop in and make things right, erase years/decades of bad behavior/choices, I really have a hard time making a case for the existence of that kind of God.
Do I believe that God can undo the rules that God made for this creation? It depends on the day that you ask me.
I do believe in a God who does not abandon us, no matter the bad choices we've made or the toll that the years have taken. I believe in a God who will hold us in Divine arms, when we are old and/or broken. I believe in a God who cleans up after us.
And of course, God is also there when we're not broken. God is there when we're vigorous. But sadly, my experience has shown that many of us can't let God hold us or assist us until we're in desperate need of that assistance.
Imagine how our lives would be if we sought that Divine partnership earlier.
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